The Gauhati High Court Bar Association began a hunger strike and announced a boycott of the event where Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is set to lay the foundation stone of a new court complex.
Lawyers are opposing the proposed shift of the Gauhati High Court from central Guwahati to North Guwahati, calling the decision unilateral.
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court Bar Association on Sunday started a four-hour strike to protest against the laying of the foundation stone of a new high court complex, which is scheduled to be done by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.
The new complex of the Gauhati High Court has been proposed as part of a large judicial township at Rangmahal in North Guwahati. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is expected to lay the foundation stone of the project later in the day.
Members of the Gauhati High Court Bar Association had already shown their protest earlier by holding a four-hour hunger strike on Thursday and Friday in front of the old high court building.
Explaining the reason for the protest, GHCBA vice president Santanu Borthakur said,
“We are completely against shifting the high court from the present location, which is the heart of the city. We have begun our hunger strike from 10 am to 2 pm. None of our members will attend the function,”
He further stated that the Bar Association has opposed the decision to shift the court complex right from the beginning, but the government has gone ahead with the plan without taking their views into account. According to him, the decision was taken unilaterally and the construction of new judicial infrastructure is now being pushed forward.
Borthakur said,
“As it appears, the foundation stone will be laid today. After this, we are thinking of challenging this in court. Our executive committee will meet within the next few days and decide the future course of action,”
The GHCBA has been strongly opposing the proposal to shift the high court complex to the northern bank of the Brahmaputra from its current location in the centre of Guwahati city.
Meanwhile, Assam Advocate General Devajit Saikia on Saturday criticised the protest by the Bar Association and alleged that there was a “nexus with political parties” behind the agitation.
The Assam government plans to construct the new judicial township at Rangmahal in North Guwahati over an area of 148 bighas, which is nearly 49 acres of land. In November last year, the state cabinet approved an amount of Rs 479 crore for the first phase of construction of the judicial township.
Earlier as well, the Gauhati High Court Bar Association had demanded that the project be stopped immediately, stating that the relocation was not in the interest of lawyers, litigants, and the general public.
At present, the Gauhati High Court is located at Uzan Bazar in central Guwahati, on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra. The court functions from a historic building, and alongside it, a modern multi-storey building equipped with state-of-the-art facilities was constructed and inaugurated a few years ago.
Both these buildings stand opposite each other on Mahatma Gandhi Road and are connected through an underground tunnel with escalator facilities, making movement between them easier.
The Assam government has stated that it wants to develop the Brahmaputra riverfront and for that purpose, it requires the land on which the high court is currently situated. A new convention centre is also being constructed next to the old high court complex on the riverbank, as part of the riverfront development plan.
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