Calcutta high court upholds validity of Singur Act

Tata Motors today more or less lost its case in the Calcutta High Court against West Bengal's Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, with the court upholding the constitutional validity of the Act.

Justice I P Mukherji also directed Tata Motors to remove all their possessions from the land within two months.

Nonetheless, there was some relief for Tata Motors, as the judge said the company could apply for compensation for any damages suffered from the state takeover of land that was originally allotted to the company.

He also stayed the verdict till 2 November to give both parties time to challenge it in a higher court.

Tata can apply for compensation before the Hooghly district judge within six months, Justice Mukherji said. The court also appointed the district magistrate and superintendent of Hooghly, the district in which Singur is located, as special officers to ensure smooth transfer of land from the Tatas to the state government.

The court also upheld the vesting of the land given to vendors with the state government. The vendors had also challenged the Act in a separate application.