Dealing a blow to Mamata Banerjee's government, Calcutta High Court today passed its verdict on the Singur land and held Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 as unconstitutional and void. A division Bench of the High Court held that the Singur Act void as President's assent was not taken. Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chowdhury set aside an earlier single Bench order that had upheld the act on land acquisition. The implementation of the land acquisition order stayed for two months by the court to allow the aggrieved party to appeal before a higher court. Tata Motors had challenged the order of the single Bench of the Calcutta High Court which had upheld the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, by which the West Bengal government vested the land leased to the company at Singur, before the division bench of the Court. Tata Motors had appealed against the order of Justice I P Mukerji, which was passed on September 28 last year. Justice Mukerji had held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 to be constitutional. The court had, however, ordered on September 28 an unconditional stay of the judgement till November 2 to allow any aggrieved party to file an appeal, if it so desired. Tata Motors had been leased 997 acre at Singur in Hooghly district, about 40 km from here, by the previous Left Front government for its Nano car project, billed as the cheapest car. The Trinamool Congress, which was then the main Opposition in West Bengal, had demanded return of 400 acre to farmers unwilling to give land for the project. Tata Motors had moved to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008 citing law and order problems, but had kept possession of the leased land at Singur. After coming to power in May 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had the Singur Act passed in the Assembly as one of her government's first major legislation. Trinamool Congress, which was then the main Opposition in West Bengal, had demanded return of 400 acres to farmers unwilling to give land for the project. Tata Motors had moved its Nano small car factory to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008 citing law and order problems, but had kept possession of the leased land at Singur. After coming to power in May 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had the Singur Act passed in the Assembly as one of her government's first major legislations. Counsel for the state government Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, who is also a Trinamool Congress MP, said that the state would appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. Tata Motors welcomes Calcutta HC verdict on Singur land Tata Motors welcomed today's Calcutta High Court order that held as unconstitutional the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, under which the West Bengal Government had vested land leased to the top auto maker. When contacted, a Tata Motors spokesperson here said, "We welcome the court verdict." In a setback to Mamata Banerjee Government, the High Court held as unconstitutional and void the Act under which the State had vested land leased to Tata Motors by the previous Left Front Government at Singur in Hooghly district, about 40km from Kolkata. Giving its verdict on an appeal by Tata Motors, a Division Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury observed that the Presidential assent was not sought for the Act. The Bench set aside the order of Justice I P Mukerji who had upheld the Act, passed on September 28 last year. Tata Motors had challenged the order of the single bench. Tata Motors had been leased 997 acres at Singur for its Nano car project. The then Opposition Trinamool Congress had demanded return of 400 acres to farmers unwilling to give land for the project. As opposition to the plant grew, Tata Motors had moved its Nano small car factory to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008, but kept possession of the leased land at Singur. After coming to power in May 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had the Singur Act passed in the Assembly as one of her Government's first major legislative measures.Source: Indian Express
