The Calcutta High Court has ruled in favour of Tata Motors over a long-running battle for the land on which the firm had originally begun to build its Nano plant. The half-finished manufacturing facility was eventually abandoned after violent protests.
The company, which invested the equivalent of some US$310m into the project at Singur in the Indian state of West Bengal, cancelled plans to manufacture the low-cost car in October 2008. Tata Motors decided to shift build to its light truck facility at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand at relatively short notice, eventually launching the Nano in 2009. In April 2010, the capacity limitations at Pantnagar were solved as a new Nano plant at Sanand in Gujarat came on stream.
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Tata Motors had been forced to hand back the land at Singur to farmers who claimed they had not been compensated when the firm originally set up operations at the site. The new ruling by the High Court has deemed the previous decision by a lower court was “unconstitutional and void”, lawyers present told Reuters.
The vehicle manufacturer is yet to comment on the latest ruling.
Author: Glenn Brooks
