Blow to Mamata as HC nixes Singur Act

June 23, 2012

Kolkata, June 23: The Calcutta High Court on Friday held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, “unconstitutional and void.”

The Act was the brainchild of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Division Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury observed that the Act was unconstitutional and void since “sections of compensation in the Singur Act were in conflict with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the legislation had been enacted without obtaining assent of the President.”

The judgment is seen as a major blow to Banerjee. Earlier, a single bench of the Calcutta High Court, headed by I P Mukherjee, upheld the Act on September 28, 2011.

Tata Motors had subsequently moved the division bench challenging the verdict.

“The Single Bench had no jurisdiction to fill up loopholes left by the legislature,” Justices Ghosh and Chaudhury said.

The Bench observed that “though the single judge had awarded compensation on the basis of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, but the court had no power to insert, rewrite or reframe the Singur Act and the part dealing with compensation is not sustainable.”

The court, however, gave the state government two months time to appeal to the Supreme Court, but barred it from disbursing the reclaimed land in the interim period.

Trinamool Congress MP and government counsel Kalyan Bandopadhyay said: “The judges were also confused. So they had given a two month period for appeal which is rare. The state government would now definitely move the Supreme Court against the judgment.”

The Left Front government in West Bengal had leased out 997 acres to Tata Motors at Singur in Hooghly district for the Nano car factory.

While 645 acres were allotted to the company, the rest were given to the vendors.

Following mounting opposition by local farmers, led by the Trinamool Congress, Tata Motors shifted the factory to Sanand in Gujarat citing law and order issues, but kept possession of the land.

After coming to power, Banerjee scrapped the lease to Tata Motors, triggering a legal battle between the automobile giant and the government.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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