Singur land return locked in SC

Legal experts say that Banerjee could not move ahead with her decision till the apex court decides the matter.

“The Supreme Court will take a final decision on the return of the 400 acres of the land when the the state government will apprise the apex court about its decision,” said Joydeep Mukherjee,general secretary of All India Legal Aid Forum,who filed a petition in this regard in the highest court of the country after it was rejected by the Calcutta High Court.

Mukherjee pointed out that the title of the acquired 997 acres of land was changed four times and this could be one of the impediments in the government’s move to hand over 400 acres to the unwilling farmers.

Earlier,the farmers were the owners of the land. After it was acquired under Land Acquisition Act 1894,the title of the land was changed to the state government. But the state government handed over the land to West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation which leased out 645 acres of it to Tata Motors for a period of 90 years. “So the state government should denotify it through a notification,” said Mukherjee.

Advocate Arunava Ghosh,who argued for a petitioner in the Singur land case in the Calcutta High Court said the new chief minister did not spell out how she will return the land to the farmers. “Return of the land to unwilling farmers is a policy decision of the new government. But Mamata Banerjee did not say how it would be returned,” Ghosh said.

According to the legal provisions and the order of the Supreme Court,a land acquired by the government for public purpose can not be returned to the land loser. “If the public purpose of the acquired land remains unfulfilled,the land could be used for another public purpose according to order of the apex Court,’’ he said. And if the public purpose was not achieved,the land would finally have to be auctioned,said Ghosh.

Sovonlal Hazra,a former government pleader who argued the case in the Calcutta High Court said there was no legal provision to return the land to the unwilling farmers after acquisition.

Now all the eyes are on the Supreme Court where the case will come up for hearing in the last week of May.