Tatas moves Supreme Court on Singur land issue

Tata Motors on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order refusing its plea to restrain West Bengal government from distributing land to farmers in Singur.

The petition was mentioned before a vacation bench comprising justices P. Sathasivam and A.K. Patnaik which posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

The bench accepted the plea of Tata’s counsel to file the petition later in the day.

The counsel submitted that the company is seeking a direction for the state government not to create third party interest in the land.

The Calcutta High Court had on Monday refused to pass an interim stay order observing that the Tata Motors Limited petition had no specific statement as to when the process of land distribution would start.

The high court had noted the petitioner had submitted that if the prayer was not allowed and land distributed, the original petition challenging the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 would become infructuous.

Tata Motors had moved an ex-parte petition seeking stay on distribution of land expressing apprehension that it would be given back to “unwilling” farmers within a day or two.

WB govt returns token land to unwilling farmers in Singur

The West Bengal government on Tuesday night returned a token 11.5 acres out of the 997.97 acres land acquired for the abandoned Tata Motors' Nano project to 12 farmers who had unwillingly parted with their land.

The Singur high power committee which was set up by the state government returned the 11.5 acres of substitute land to 12 unwilling farmers of Gopalnagar and Kolaypara, Manik Das, a zilla parishad member from Beraberi, told reporters in Singur.

"We have returned the same quantum of land among the unwilling landowners," he said. The farmers were given substitute land in Gopalnagar and Kolaypara where their original holdings were, he said.