WBIDC moves Calcutta HC challenging arbitration award to Tata Motors over abandoned Singur plant

Kolkata: The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) on Monday moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging an arbitration award to Tata Motors Ltd on account of loss of capital in investments made in the abandoned car manufacturing plant at Singur. The court of Justice Mousumi Bhattacharya, before which applications by WBIDC for a stay on the award and an appeal challenging the arbitration award were listed for hearing, released both the matters on Monday.

These will be placed before the Chief Justice of the high court for fresh listing before another bench.

In its appeal, WBIDC claimed that it had been denied equal opportunity during the hearings before the arbitral tribunal.

The corporation said it was not given full opportunity to present its case before the three-member tribunal.

Following stiff resistance by the Trinamool Congress, led by then opposition leader Mamata Banerjee, alleging forcible acquisition of farmland, Tata Motors had announced pulling out of the Singur plant set up to manufacture ‘Nano’ cars in 2008.

In a regulatory filing, the company had said last year, “In respect of arbitration proceedings between Tata Motors Limited (TML) and WBIDC, this is to inform that the aforesaid pending arbitral proceedings before a three-member Arbitral Tribunal has now been finally disposed of in favour of TML on October 30, 2023, and the company has been held to recover Rs 765.78 crore plus interest from WBIDC.”

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