Singur land row: Tatas win, blow to Mamata

In a major setback to West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee, Calcutta High Court today held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 as 'unconstitutional' and void, under which the state had vested land leased to Tata Motors. A division bench of the high court gave the verdict on Tata Motors' appeal against a single judge order that had upheld the Act. A division bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury observed that the President's consent had not been taken for the Act and as such it was void and unconstitutional. Reacting to the court ruling, the State government's counsel Kalyan Banerjee said that a two-month stay has been put on the act, which gives them time to appeal in a higher court of law.