Supreme Court gives Singur land to farmers

New Delhi: In a huge setback to Tatas, the Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the acquisition of 1,000 acres of land in West Bengal’s Singur by the Buddhadeb Bhatta-charya-led CPM government in 2006 for their Nano car project, which was later shifted to Gujarat.

A bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra, in separate but concurring conclusions, held that the acquisition was illegal and not valid, and directed the West Bengal government to return the lands to the farmers within 12 weeks.

The court’s verdict came in response to several appeals filed by lawyer Kedar Nath Yadav and non-governmental organisations like the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights which challenged a Calcutta High Court ruling that said the acquisition was valid in law.

The acquisition of the “fertile multi-crop agricultural land” by the West Bengal government was against the 1894 Land Acquisition Act, according to them.

Accepting their contentions, the bench held that the government should not recover the compensation paid to the farmers. Justice Gowda said the acquisition of land for a company by taking it away from the farmers cultivating it cannot be termed as a “public purpose”.