The Supreme Court landed a massive blow to the former left Front Government in West Bengal after it set aside the acquisition of 1,053 acres of land in Singur for Tata Motors to set up its Nano manufacturing unit.
A Bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra held as ‘illegal’ and ‘void’ the acquisition made in 2006 and restored the land back to the farmers and land owners. The court also allowed them to retain the compensation amount for the loss suffered after being deprived of their land.
Upholding the contention of the Mamata Banerjee Government, which had all along attacked the Singur land acquisition as illegal, the apex court held that the then CPI(M) Government ignored rightful objections raised by the land owners. Through separate orders, the Bench concluded that the compensation for the land was fixed without going into the prevailing market rate and giving an opportunity to land owners to establish their claim for reasonable compensation.
Citing these procedural illegalities, the Bench directed the State Survey Settlement Department to conduct a survey of the acquired land and return the same to the land owners within 12 weeks.
Justice Gowda said there was no “public purpose” involved in acquiring the land. “ The acquisition of land for and at the instance of the company was sought to be disguised as acquisition of land for ‘public purpose’ in order to circumvent compliance with the mandatory provisions of the land Acquisition Act. This action of the State Government is grossly perverse and illegal and void ab initio in law,” he said.
However, the other judge, Justice Mishra said that the object of public purpose was served in the land acquisition as the Government hoped that setting up of ancillary units will provide direct employment to 1,800 people and indirect employment to another 4,700.
On the aspect of procedure, both judges were unanimous that objections of the land owners were not considered at any stage.
The court said, “In this day and age of fast-paced development, it is completely understandable for the State Government to want to acquire lands to set up industrial units. What, however, cannot be lost sight of is the fact that when the brunt of this ‘development’ is borne by the weakest sections of society, more so, poor agricultural workers who have no means of raising their voice against the action of the mighty State Government, it is the onerous duty of the State Government to ensure that the mandatory procedure laid down under the Act and the Rules framed there under are followed scrupulously.”
Both judges concurred that the enquiry for fixing compensation was a “farce” and an “eyewash” as the State Government mechanically acted on the Collector’s report and ignored the objections raised by farmers/land owners.
The Bench noted that the project stood abandoned ever since Tata closed operations in Singur on October 3, 2008 and shifted to Gujarat. “The very purpose of acquisition has failed and directing an enquiry afresh would be an exercise in futility,” said the Bench, while directing restoration of land to the original owners. Those owners who had refused to take compensation were also allowed by the court to claim their amount from the State department concerned.