Supreme Court allows West Bengal to reclaim Ambassador car factory site allotted to Hindustan Motors

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the West Bengal government’s decision to take back over 395 acres of land earlier allotted to Hindustan Motors in Hooghly's Uttarpara where Ambassador car manufacturing plant used to be located [Hindustan Motors Limited & Anr. vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors.].

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan dismissed a plea filed by Hindustan Motors challenging a May 2025 Calcutta High Court judgment which had affirmed the State’s right to reclaim the unused land.

It declined to entertain the company’s arguments and said it found no ground to interfere with the High Court’s reasoning, which relied on decades of non-utilisation of land by the automobile manufacturer.

This brings to a close a long-standing legal dispute that began when the State issued a resumption order under Section 6(3) of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, citing the prolonged disuse of the land. That order was first upheld by the West Bengal Land Tribunal, and later by the Calcutta High Court in May this year.

The Supreme Court also affirmed the High Court’s endorsement of the constitutional validity of Explanation II to the proviso to Section 6(3) of the Act, which formed the legislative basis of the State’s resumption proceedings. The Court recorded that it saw no infirmity in the High Court’s interpretation of the provision and refused to interfere.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, representing Hindustan Motors, argued that the resumption order was arbitrary and that the land was still part of the company’s industrial estate, even if unused.

However, the Court was not inclined to interfere with the concurrent findings of the Tribunal and the High Court that the land had remained unused for a considerable period and that the resumption served a larger public interest.

The Court’s decision comes amid the West Bengal government’s push to ensure optimal use of industrial land.

Just four days ago, the State had leased 40 acres out of the resumed 395-acre parcel to Titagarh Rail Systems to establish a state-of-the-art coach manufacturing facility at Uttarpara. According to the State, this facility will augment Titagarh’s existing unit and become the largest such plant in Asia outside China.

The State was represented by Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rakesh Dwivedi, and Shadan Farasat, and a team from Fox & Mandal led by Debanjan Mandal and Kunal Vajani.

Hindustan Motors was represented by Senior Advocate Shyam Divan and advocate Divyanshu Kumar Srivastava.

Titagarh Rail Systems was represented by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Mahesh Agarwal.