Tata Motors today opposed the Calcutta High Court's initiative on compensation to it for the West Bengal government vesting land at Singur that was leased to the company.
Tata Motors counsel S Pal disagreed with the proposal and informed Justice IP Mukerji, who is hearing the Tata Motors challenge of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011, that there was no mention of the leasehold value of the land which could be 500% higher than that of the structure constructed at Singur.
Pal submitted that he had challenged the constitutionality of the act itself and that it could not be mixed up with the question of compensation.
He stated that his right to compensation was a constitutional right and it could not be taken away by citing the letter of September 28, 2010 or by an act that he claimed violated constitutional provisions.
Tata Motors has already taken away all machinery from Singur to Sanand in Gujarat and set up its Nano car plant there.
The state government, on the other hand, said that the Hooghly district judge would determine the compensation considering the principle laid down under section 23 and 24 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
More From This Section
Replying to a directive by Justice Mukerji yesterday that the government spell out whether it was willing to pay compensation to Tata Motors, Advocate General Anindya Mitra submitted that it would also consider the structure constructed by Tata Motors at its recent market value and also the letter of the company written to WBIDC on September 28, 2010.
In the said letter, Tata Motors had said it was willing to leave the 600 acre of leased land at Singur provided it received proper compensation, he stated.
Justice Mukerji observed that though it would be dangerous if the government had the right to acquire any land for industry, but in this case when Tata Motors had written a letter stating it was willing to leave the land at Singur if paid proper compensation, then the state was within its right to acquire the land.
He observed that for Tata Motors it was not a question of keeping the land but negotiating the amount of compensation that it thought proper.
The matter was adjourned for the day and would be heard again tomorrow.