NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Monday said it has won an arbitral award of Rs 766 crore plus interest from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBDIC) to compensate for its investment in the now-scrapped Nano project in Singur.
According to a regulatory filing by Tata Motors, a three-member arbitral tribunal unanimously held that the carmaker is entitled to recover Rs 765.8 crore, along with interest at 11% per annum from September 1, 2016 till actual recovery thereof from WBIDC.
However, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal downplayed it, stressing legal avenues are open before the state government. “This is not a final verdict or a verdict by the Supreme Court. This is a ruling by an arbitral tribunal. It doesn’t mean this is the end of the road for the state government. Legal avenues are still open for the state government,” PTI quoted senior TMC MP Saugata Roy as saying.
One of the most controversial projects of the past two decades, the announcement and withdrawal of a Tata Motors’ plant in Singur led to political uproar in Bengal. It arguably played an important role in marking the end of the Left Front government in the state it ruled for seven consecutive terms.
The then Tata Group boss Ratan Tata and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had in 2006 announced the facility in Singur to manufacture the affordable car — Nano. However, it faced flak from local farmers who claimed that they were being forced to give up their land for the project.
Mamata Banerjee, the then opposition leader, joined the farmers and played a pivotal role in forcing Tata Motors to suspend work at the plant in September 2008, a month before the scheduled rollout of Nano from there. Tata Motors was forced to relocate its plant to Gujarat.
Lease deed
After Mamata came to power, she announced an ordinance to take back land leased to Tata. The lease agreement had a clause that said if the acquisition was deemed illegal, the state would underwrite the company for the cost. This case was then referred for arbitration