Warning against making the Singur land dispute a political issue, the Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal from returning 1,000 acres acquired from farmers for Tata Motors’ Nano small car project by the previous Left Front government.
A vacation bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and A.K. Patnaik said its interim order against return of the land would be in operation only till the Calcutta high court passes any further orders in the matter arising out of the two writ petitions filed by Tata Motors.
“As an interim measure we direct the state not to return the land till further orders passed by the high court. We make it clear that it is only an interim arrangement and we have expressed no opinion on the merits of the case,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court asked both sides to cooperate with the high court to ensure early adjudication in view of the urgency expressed by their counsel and directed the high court to dispose of the matter within a month.
Though Tata Motors’ counsel claimed it was a major relief to the company, in Kolkata West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee read the order as “favourable” to her government.
“We welcome the Supreme Court order,” she said. “It is in favour of the farmers and the people of the state.” Ms Banerjee reiterated that her government was eager to see the land handed back to the farmers of Singur, as she had promised in her election campaign, and said Wednesday’s Supreme Court order should not be seen as a “setback” as the court had, in fact, refused to entertain the Tatas’ plea to strike down the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, passed by the West Bengal Assembly soon after she came to power over a month ago.
The chief minister also pointed out that the Supreme Court had not “stopped the ongoing land operations in Singur, but merely asked us to suspend actual distribution of land till the high court decision.” The survey of the land would thus continue in accordance with the law, she said, adding that her government was strictly following the rules. The one-month time given by the highest court would allow enough time for forms to be submitted by farmers as well as for tendering any other complaints or objections, she said.
The Supreme Court passed the interim direction taking into account submissions by West Bengal’s counsel P.P. Rao that till the high court had decided the case, the land would remain in the possession of the state.
Mr Rao made the submission in response to the Tatas’ counsel Mukul Rohtagi, who said his client had been “dispossessed” of the land by the government forcibly, with the help of the state police, on the night of June 21.
Mr Rohtagi argued that under the Land Acquisition Act, any land acquired for any “public purpose” could not be handed back to landowners, and in the Tatas’ case even the high court had approved the acquisition in January 2008.
However, Mr Rao defended the passage of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, and questioned the Tatas’ urgency in moving the Supreme Court when their case was still pending before the high court and was being heard on a regular basis.
“We can’t return the land unless the case is decided by the high court,” Mr Rao said, adding that a commission had been set up to decide the compensation claims and counter-claims.
As senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, also appearing for the state government, described the Tatas’ move to rush to the Supreme Court as “drama”, the bench took exception to any attempt to politicise the matter. “It is not a political issue but an issue involving the rights of the parties,” the bench said, while disposing of the two special leave petitions by Tata Motors challenging the constitutional validity of the Singur Act as well as the state’s decision to return the land to the farmers.