Tata Motors on Wednesday got “interim protection” from the Supreme Court that directed the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal not to return land earmarked for a Tata project in Singur to its original owners till the case is settled in the Calcutta high court (HC).

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The auto major had been allotted almost 1,000 acres of land by the previous Left Front government to set up a Nano car project in Singur. However, with the fall of the Left Front, the new government passed a law stipulating that Singur farmers, whose land had been acquired against their will, would get it back.Tata Motors moved the HC for interim relief but to no avail. It then moved the SC.

“As an interim order, we direct the state government not to hand over or return land to farmers concerned until further order passed by the high court,” a bench of justices P Sathasivam and AK Patnaik said, while asking the HC to decide the contesting issues within a month.

The judges made it clear that the SC was not making any opinion on the merits of the case and asked the HC to proceed with the main matter in which the Tatas have challenged the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011. “We are not inclined to interfere at this stage on the main issues pending before the high court,” the court said.

PP Rao, counsel for the West Bengal government said the SC order did not stop the land survey and the land would continue to be in the possession of the state.

Tata Motors has termed the Act a “colourable exercise of legislation”. The company moved the apex court after the high court on June 23 refused to entertain its plea seeking restraining orders on the state government for taking possession of the land. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tata Motors, alleged that the company was forced to move its small car project out of Singur because of protests and agitations.    

—With agency inputs