SC declines to stay Culcutta HC`s Singur land ruling

Nano, the Rs 1 lakh car. Therefore, there is no court bar against continuing with the project. However, the apex court issued notices to the West Bengal government, Tata Motors and the Centre on a set of appeals against the high court judgment. It might examine the validity of the land acquisition after the governments and the firm appear before it in July.

The appeals made by the affected farmers and a lawyer were heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

The farmers complained that their fertile land was forcibly acquired by the government for setting up an SEZ.

The state government submitted before the court that it took over the entire land, spread over 1,000 acres, in 2005 after paying compensation and the financial closure was complete. On the other hand, the farmers' counsel argued that the government and the company identified the land after a two-year survey.

The land in possession of the company was not in public interest, although the government claimed that the land acquisition was in public interest under Chapter 2 of the Land Acquisition Act. There were no talks with the farmers and the compensation was paid by the company and not the government. This makes the acquisition illegal and for private benefit, the counsel contended.

Under Chapter 7, the buyer must negotiate directly with the owner, the land to be acquired should not be fertile and price should also to be settled with the farmers. Earlier, the high court had rejected these contentions.