Supreme Court orders Tata Motors to return Singur land to farmers

The Supreme Court of India has ordered Tata Motors to return the 1,000 acres of land acquired for the defunct plant for the Tata Nano in Singur, West Bengal.

In the month of May earlier this year, the apex court has listened to the pleas from all involved parties – Tata Motors, the state government and the aggrieved farmers.

Now the Supreme Court has announced that the deal through which the former Left government in West Bengal acquired a 1,000 acres in Singur in 2006 for Tata Motors to set up the manufacturing plant for the Nano as illegal and void.

The Supreme Court stated the the process by which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)  government had adopted to acquire the land in 2006, which was opposed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, “was wrong on many accounts,”.

The West Bengal Government has been asked to conduct a survey and return the land to the rightful owners within ten weeks, by the Supreme Court.

In 2006, Tata Motors was given around 1,000 acres of land by the then CMP state government to construct the manufacturing plant of the world’s most affordable car, the Tata Nano. Soon after violent protest from the TMC erupted, Tata Motors was forced to move out of the region and set up an all new plant in the Sanad area of Gujarat.

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