The Hindu : Front Page : Supreme Court refuses to stay HC judgment on Singur car project

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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Supreme Court refuses to stay HC judgment on Singur car project

J. Venkatesan

Notice issued to government on special leave petitions

Land acquisitions illegal, say petitioners
Production to start by October 2008: Tata Motors

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the operation of a Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of about 1,000 acres of land in Singur by the West Bengal government for the Tata Motors ‘Nano’ car project.

A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, and Justices R.V. Raveendran and M.K. Sharma, however, issued notice to the government and others on special leave petitions challenging the High Court judgment and posted the matter for further hearing in July.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the government, submitted that the Tatas had taken possession of the acquired lands; compensation had been paid to the owners and financial liability in this regard had been closed.

The court, therefore, should not stay the judgment.

Mr. Justice Balakrishnan told Mr. Venugopal and senior counsel Fali Nariman, who appeared for Tata Motors, “We are not staying the High Court order. We will not grant status quo also. We only issue notice.”

The SLPs were filed by Kedar Nath Yadav, an advocate, and two others for a direction to the government to stop the Nano project on the ground that lands were acquired illegally without following the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.

The West Bengal government’s action in acquiring 997.11 acres at Singur for public purpose without any specific master plan and depriving farmers of their livelihood without giving proper compensation was malafide, arbitrary and illegal exercise of power, the SLPs said.

They said 13,491 farmers were affected and sought a direction to restrain the government from evicting or dispossessing farmers from their lands, the source of livelihood to thousands of people.

Tata Motors, in its response, submitted that it had invested more than Rs.1,000 crore in its small car project and any delay in the project would increase the cost of product which was expected to be priced at Rs.1 lakh.

The affidavit said: “Out of the total project cost of Rs.2,000 crore, over Rs.1,000 crore has already been spent and another Rs.700 crore has been irrevocably committed; the ground has been levelled and raised. Workshops for manufacturing the engine body, etc. such as press shop, wield shop, engine and transmission shop, trim chassis and finish line are nearing completion and the plant was expected to start production by October 2008.”

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