Kolkata:
Mamata Banerjee won big on two fronts today. She won a legal battle against Ratan Tata that's centred on the land allotted to him in Singur. She also won her assembly by-election from her constituency of Bhawanipore by nearly 50,000 votes. She was earlier an MP.
Her legal victory was declared first this morning. The Calcutta High Court ruled that the Singur Land Rehabilitation Act is constitutional and valid. The Act was introduced in June by Mamata Banerjee shortly after she was elected Chief Minister of West Bengal. It allowed her government to cancel a 99-year-lease signed with Mr Tata for nearly 1000 acres for his Nano factory. The deal had been signed by the Left which lost to Ms Banerjee in the state elections in May this year.
Mr Tata had challenged the Singur Act. He is expected to appeal against today's order in the Supreme Court. A statement to the press declared, "The company will study the judgment and decide its next course of action."
Ms Banerjee hailed the decision as "a historic day for the people of Singur, for the farmers of the world, for all land movements; it is a day of justice."
The court has given Mr Tata's company two months to remove all equipment and other belongings from the factory his company had set up at Singur. The court has also given the Tatas the right to ask for compensation for damages, if any. The judge also said his verdict will be stayed -remain in suspension -for a month. That gives all parties a chance to appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
Farmers from Singur and adjoining areas have claimed that close to 400 acres of their land had been given to Mr Tata by the Left against their wishes. Returning this land to farmers was one of the biggest promises Ms Banerjee made during her campaign.
The Tata Group abandoned its plans for a manufacturing plant for its new Nano car in October 2008 after repeated protests by farmers that often involved violence. The farmers had found huge support in Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress.
The Tata Group stresses that it had invested nearly 1800 crore in establishing the plant at Singur and another 440 crore on constructing buildings and adding infrastructure.
While challenging the Singur Act, the Tatas had explained, "The Bill mentions 'non-commissioning and abandoning' of the project by Tata Motors and goes on to state that 'no employment generation and socio-economic development has taken place and people in and around the area have not benefited in any manner.' Tata Motors wants to clarify that the operations of setting up and commissioning of the plant was conducted under very difficult conditions, amidst violence, disruption of activities, damage to property, threats to personnel. ... therefore, Tata Motors did not find the situation congenial to continue its operations."