The Supreme Court has quashed the acquisition of agricultural land for Tata Motors' plant in Singur town of West Bengal. The earlier Left Front government in the State had acquired 997 acres of land in 2006 for setting up Tata Motors' Nano car manufacturing plant. <br/><br/>The apex court termed as illegal and void the acquisition of land. It ordered restoration of the land to farmers who will retain the compensation received. The court said the state government cannot claim back the amount of compensation as it had enjoyed the right over the acquired land for ten years.<br/><br/>Finding fault with the land acquisition process, the Supreme Court said that the acquired land be returned to the cultivators within 12 weeks. The court, in its judgment, said land acquisition collector has not properly conducted the inquiry into the complaints of cultivators with regard to acquisition of plots. It held that the acquisition of land by the State for a company does not fall under the purview of public purpose.

Supreme Court today set aside the controversial land acquisition by the then Left Front government in 2006 in Singur, West Bengal. About 997 acres of land were acquired to set up Tata Motors' ambitious Nano car manufacturing plant. The verdict came as a huge setback to the auto major.<br/><br/>It was delivered by a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra. The bench quashed the land acquisition process invoked by the erstwhile CPI(M)-led government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.<br/><br/>The two judges were unanimous in quashing the acquisition process and for retainment of the compensation awarded to the land owners and the cultivators for being<br/>deprived of the use of their land for last 10 years. <br/><br/>However, they gave their own separate reasonings for arriving at their findings. They agreed that the land should be restored in 12 weeks to the owners and cultivators after completing the survey, identification and other formalities within 10 weeks.<br/><br/>The apex court said the state government cannot claim back the amount of compensation given to the land-losers as it had enjoyed the right over the acquired land for ten years.<br/><br/>Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, which first came to power in 2011 after spearheading agitation of cultivators affected by the acquisition, got a shot in its arm as the apex court approved its political plank that the land should be returned to the cultivators.

Supreme Court today set aside the controversial land acquisition by the then Left Front government in 2006 in Singur, West Bengal. About 997 acres of land were acquired to set up Tata Motors' ambitious Nano car manufacturing plant. The verdict came as a huge setback to the auto major.<br/><br/> It was delivered by a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra. The bench quashed the land acquisition process invoked by the erstwhile CPI(M)-led government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.<br/><br/>The two judges were unanimous in quashing the acquisition process and for retainment of the compensation awarded to the land owners and the cultivators for being<br/>deprived of the use of their land for last 10 years. <br/><br/>However, they gave their own separate reasonings for arriving at their findings. They agreed that the land should be restored in 12 weeks to the owners and cultivators after completing the survey, identification and other formalities within 10 weeks.<br/><br/>The apex court said the state government cannot claim back the amount of compensation given to the land-losers as it had enjoyed the right over the acquired land for ten years.<br/><br/>Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, which first came to power in 2011 after spearheading agitation of cultivators affected by the acquisition, got a shot in its arm as the apex court approved its political plank that the land should be returned to the cultivators.