The bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices R V Raveendran and M K Sharma has also sought replies from the West Bengal State Industrial Development Corporation (WBSIDC).

The Tata Motors has been asked to file its response by the next hearing, which will take place in June.

The apex court’s directive came on a petition filed by Kedar Nath Yadav, an advocate who has sought an urgent stay of the Tata’s car project in Singur.

Aggrieved by the Calcutta High Court’s decision that upheld the acquisition of land by the West Bengal government for the project as legal, the advocate has now appealed before the apex court.

The acquisition of fertile multi-crop agricultural land by the government in various parts of the State for Tata Motors’ upcoming project, for Indonesia’s Salim Group in Haldia and the Reliance group, was in violations of farmers’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the petition stated.

The petition further stated that the land acquisition goes against the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and that such an action on the part of the state government to acquire 997.11 acres of land at Singur in the name of public purpose without any specific master plan and depriving farmers of their livelihood without giving proper compensation was malafide, arbitrary and illegal.

Tata Motors, which proposes to roll out the world’s cheapest car Nano from the Singur plant, however, told the court that it had spent more than Rs 700 crore on the project.