Calcutta High Court scrapped the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011

The Calcutta High Court on 22 June 2012, held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 as unconstitutional and void. The legislation enabled the government to recover the disputed Singur land from Tata Motors, who was leased 997 acre of land at Singur in Hooghly district by previous left front government in the state.

The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act was passed by the West Bengal state assembly in 2011 when Mamata Banrjee led Trinamool Congress swept to power in May 2011. The legislation which justified the state government’s land re-acquisition drive, empowered the government to recover 1000 acres of land at the abandoned Tata Nano factory site in Singur.

What is the Singur land dispute?

Singur land dispute surfaced in May 2006, following the left front government’s decision to lease 997 acre land for 99 years, at Singur in Hooghly district, about 40 km from Kolkata, for The Tata Motors’ Nano car project.

The move was fiercely opposed by the Trinamool Congress, the then principal opposition party of the state. The party demanded the return of 400 acre of land to farmers reluctant to give land for the project. Following the dispute and the political hindrances occurring in the project the Tata Motors decided to move to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008 to keep its ambitious Nano project going. The company, however, kept possession of the leased land at Singur.

When the Trinmool Congress swept to the power in May 2011, throwing long standing left front government out of power, the Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee passed the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, which enabled the government to reclaim the Singur land from the Tata Motors.

Tata Motors moved to the Calcutta High Court against the legislation. The single judge bench of Calcutta High Court upheld her decision in its ruling held on 28 June 2011. Perturbed of the ruling, Tata Motors challenged the verdict before the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court comprising Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on 1 November 2011.