Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Tuesday
said that the Singur Land Development and Rehabilitation Act
2011 by which the land was vested by the state was not
violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Appearing for the state's Land and Land Revenue
department against Tata Motors Ltd's challenge of the Act,
senior counsel Saktinath Mukherjee submitted before Justice I
P Mukerji that the Singur Act was not violative of Article 14
of the Constitution which provides for equality before law.
Citing the Burma Shell Nationalisation Act and Esso
Nationalisation Act, Mukerji submitted that such laws
concerning a single company were made in several cases
earlier.
He stated that the land at Singur had been given to
Tata Motors Ltd for generating jobs and socio-economic
development of the area.
But as it failed to commission the plant and then
relocated the Nano car plant to Gujarat, the West Bengal
government decided to enact the Singur Act to vest the land,
he stated.
The matter was adjourned for the day and would be
taken up for hearing again tomorrow.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 22:27