Besides street battles with the ruling Left Front on the land acquisition in Singur, the Trinamool Congress also sought to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act to get information on the deal struck between the State Government and Tata Motors. But the government has declined to provide any details, citing provisions under the RTI Act.

The RTI plea was filed by Trinamool’s Partha Chatterjee, who is also the leader of the Opposition, on December 10. Among other things, he sought to know what incentives had been offered to lure the Tatas to West Bengal. A month later, the State Commerce and Industry Department replied that under Section 8-1(d), it does not have to disclose matters that it feels are a trade secret.

On Monday, the Trinamool appealed to the State Chief Information Commissioner, Arun Bhattacharya, claiming that under Section 19-1 of the RTI Act, the government is bound to reply.

“We have asked the government to make public the land deal with Tata Motors. I personally told Nirupam Sen, the Commerce and Industries Minister, to provide the lease deed. But they declined to give any information on the deal,” said Chatterjee, a former senior-level professional manager. “So we are knocking at the door of the RTI Commission,” he added.

But officials of the Commerce and Industry Department maintained that the government was not bound to reveal information that involves a third party, in this case the Tatas.

According to highly-placed sources in the CPI(M), Tata Motors has been offered a 16 per cent excise waiver for 10 years. But the incentive may not necessarily be linked to the deal at Singur, where the Tatas have allotted 997 acres for their small-car plant.

... contd.