Asks HC to expedite the hearing and give its order within a month.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government not to return the land acquired for Tata Motors in Singur to farmers till the Calcutta High Court decided the issue. The high court, which is now hearing the case regarding the interim arrangement, has been asked to expedite the hearing and give its order within a month.
The vacation bench of the Supreme Court passed the order on an appeal by Tata Motors which wanted to “freeze” the position as of now. It apprehended that the state government would start returning the land to the owners, though the company has spent crores of rupees for its Nano small car project which ultimately had to be shifted to another state. Once the land was returned, it would be difficult to reverse the process, it said.
The bench comprising Justice P Sathasivam and Justice A K Patnaik clarified that the high court would proceed to hear the case before it without being influenced by today’s order. Its order is wholly an interim arrangement and it has not gone into the merits of the issue.
The company has challenged in the high court the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, enabling the government to take back possession of the land and distribute it among the farmers who owned them before acquisition by the previous Left Front government. It also asked for an interim stay. The high court did not grant it and it is still hearing the company’s application for stopping the government action. Therefore, the company moved the Supreme Court.
Senior counsel for the company, Mukul Rohtagi, submitted that the land was acquired for public purpose and the high court had earlier upheld the acquisition. Once land was acquired for public purpose, the Land Acquisition Act did not permit return of the land to its earlier owners, he said.
The counsel described the Act as “obnoxious” and it should be quashed. The company had no opportunity to present its case, which is a right recognised by the Land Acquisition Act. The law allowed the government to take over the land immediately; otherwise the company will be evicted. Market value will be decided by some authority without fixing parameters. “It is an extraordinary state of affairs, and the state cannot march the army to take the land,” Rohtagi said.
He contended that the government was moving fast and “everything was being done at night.” The Act was passed on June 21 and the same night the government swung into action by taking over the land and preparing to distribute it.
The company told the authorities that it had moved the high court and asked them to stay their hands till the hearing next morning. But they did not wait.
