Tata Motors alleged on Friday that the West Bengal government was trespassing on the land of the now-relocated Tata Nano small car factory at Singur. It also told the Calcutta High Court that it had not “voluntarily relinquished [the] right of property” at Singur.
Abandonment means voluntary relinquishing of right to property without any element of coercion. This was not the case in Singur, counsel for Tata Motors Samaraditya Pal told the court during the hearing of a petition filed by the company, challenging the constitutional validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011.
Mr. Pal said the acts of the State government – re-possessing the land at Singur - tantamount to “gross acts of trespass.”
Countering the claims of the State government of “non utilisation” of land at Singur, he said that while the small car project may have failed to take off from the place, it did not mean non-utilisation of land.
“Utilisation does not necessarily mean completion of project,” he said.
The company's decision to relocate to Gujarat was not taken at its volition, and Tata Motors “succumbed to force” during the agitation, he said adding that repeated blockades since 2006 forced the company to relocate.
Keywords: Singur land issue, Tata Motors
Tata Motors have proved themselves both foolish and crooked in going into the kind of anti-people deal even if the law of the land (which in its turn was a colonial-day hangover, anyway and should be changed immediately)allowed it. First of all they should have realized very early on that in a democracy no business can survive if a large section of the people surrounding it oppose it for reasons relating to their own survival. This was not a ploy of Trinamul; it was real and Trinamul just became their voice.
Please Email the Editor