Supreme Court Quashes Tata Motors' Singur Land Deal

The Supreme Court of India has ruled on the Tata Motors Singur land deal in West Bengal. The apex court has cancelled the deal in which the former Left government in West Bengal had acquired 1000 acres of farmland for Tata Motors to set up its new car manufacturing plant. This car plant was mainly for the Tata Nano and the failure of the land deal and the subsequent problems that ensued are said to be one of the biggest reasons why the Nano was delayed and why the 'people's car' from Tata Motors has not been as successful as experts had predicted.

"The land acquisition process adopted by the then CPM government, which was opposed by the TMC Party was wrong on many counts" stated the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has also asked the current West Bengal government to undertake a survey and return the land to the original owners of the property in the next 10 weeks.

The Tata Group, that was given the land in 2006 to build a factory had shelved plans post the violent protests that engulfed the Singur area. In 2011, the newly formed Mamta Banarjee government formulated a law that forced Tata to give away the land that it had received which prompted Tata Motors to challenge the law in the Calcutta High Court as unconstitutional.

As we know, the Tata Motor factory was then set up in Sanand, Gujrat with encouragement from the Modi government that was in power in the state then. The shift in factory locations is one of the biggest setbacks for Tata Motors in general, alongwith it being the reason for the delay in the Tata Nano reaching the eager public.

The Sanand plant, along with the Tata Nano, also makes the Tata Tiago hatchback. It will make the of the Kite 5 compact sedan which was unveiled at the 2016 Indian Auto Expo and the upgraded Nano or Pelican Project which will have a better interior and a new and more powerful engine.