KOLKATA: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Tata Motors to make a submission to clarify their status on the Singur land by Tuesday, when the case will come up for hearing.
The bench of Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice Arun Kumar Mishra wanted to know from the Tata's counsel Siddhartha Mitra why the company was retaining the land in Singur when it had shifted out.
Mitra submitted to the court that Tata Motors is willing to vacate the land once they are compensated adequately for the expenses made towards infrastructure and on corporate social responsibility projects in Singur. Tata Motors has to give a clarification about their compensation claim. The Tata Motors counsel submitted that the company had come to Singur on the invitation of the West Bengal government to facilitate socio-economic development. The government acquired the land for 'public purpose' and handed it over to the Tatas. The aim was to create jobs in the area for which the land was given to Tatas on a long time lease, Mitra added.
On Thursday, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) submitted its affidavit, appending the cabinet papers of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government that had decided to acquire land in Singur for public purpose.
The 'public purpose' clause had come under question during the hearing on Wednesday. The bench asked if land acquisition for a particular company suits the public purpose clause. Moreover, the judges pointed out how the quantum of Singur land plot increased by 400 acres and how Tatas got hold of multi-crop plot acquired at the cost of exchequer.
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