The Calcutta high court asked West Bengal government on Friday to explain land acquisition process for Tata Motors plant at Singur, a project that has set off a political storm.

A division bench of acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharjee and Justice K K Prasad directed the state government to file an affidavit explaining details of agreements with land owners for acquiring 997 acres of land for the projct.

Questioning whether land acquisition can be done at a place simultaneously under two different sections of Land Acquisition Act 1894, the bench directed the government to state the total number of farmers who had received the compensation from the government.