In November 2007, the state government had issued a notification to acquire 1,240 acres of land in Moabarchwak and Raisondi Mouza for setting up industrial units of Telecon, a joint venture company of Tata and Hitachi.
Hearing a petition filed by Bharatlal Brijlani and eleven other landowners, Justice Jayanta Biswas refused to pass any interim order and held that the land acquisition process was legally valid.
The petitioners had alleged that the state government had issued a notification on November 5, 1993 to develop the 1.47 lakh acre area under the Town and Counrty Planning Act.
It had also authorised the Midanpore Kharagpur Development Authority for the same. But last year the state government issued a separate notification to acquire the land without de-notifying the area.
The petitioners also alleged that the state government has not conducted any study on the impact of the industrial units in the nearby area.
Advocate Asish Sanyal, counsel of the petitioners, asked the court to issue an injunction on the land acquisition process.
Advocate General Bolai Roy, however, countered it saying that the state decided to acquire the land for the industry, which will bring in socio-economic change in the area. The industrial unit would generate employment in the area, he added.