The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Tata Motors to make its stand clear on its leasehold rights over the Singur land in the wake of changed scenario as the company had already moved its car plant out of West Bengal.
“The land was acquired for establishing a car manufacturing plant at Singur. Now, the purpose is no more there as you have already moved out. Now you cannot say that you still have the interests in the land in question,” a Bench of justices Hl Dattu and Dipak Misra said. The court said that the “land should move back to the agriculturists and we may ask the West Bengal Government to file an affidavit on the issue of giving the money back to you which you had paid at the time of land acquisition. In the interests of justice, we think it will serve the purpose.”
The court was hearing a special leave petition filed by the West Bengal Government challenging the quashing of the Singur land Acquisition Act by the Calcutta High Court. West Bengal Industry Minister, Partha Chatterjee, said, “This vindicates our stand. It is a victory for the people of Singur. There is provision in the Singur Act for compensation, which is to be decided by the magistrate. We will wait for Tatas’ response.” The next hearing for the case has been fixed for August 6.