In a landmark ruling, the Calcutta high court on Friday held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 “unconstitutional and void” for lacking the critical element of presidential assent.
This setback for the Mamata Banerjee government came as a victory for Tata Motors, which said it would examine the verdict.
The 248-page order by a division bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury not only dealt a blow to the state government, which passed the law soon after coming to power last year, but also set aside Justice I.P. Mukerji’s earlier order which held the law to be “constitutional”.
The bench, however, put a two-month stay on the execution of its order. The state government is likely to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Tata Motors counsel Samaraditya Pal said Friday: “The bench held the act unconstitutional and void as the law is violative (of) Article 254 of the Constitution.” Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, representing “willing” farmers, said: “The bench observed the act lacked the President’s assent, which is essential in such cases.” The high court held void the clauses on land acquisition, vesting of land and compensation to Tata Motors, and restrained the government from returning land to unwilling farmers, he added. Trinamul Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, who appeared for the government, said: “The high court held the act unconstitutional. But the exceptional part is that it put a two-month stay on the execution of its own order.”