Guwahati, Jan 10 (PTI) The standoff between the Assam government and the Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA) over the shifting of the court complex to North Guwahati continued on Saturday, with lawyers planning a hunger strike and the advocate general hinting at a “nexus with political parties.” The foundation-laying ceremony of the new court complex is scheduled on Sunday.
A member of the association said that six-hour hunger strikes were carried out by them over the last two days in front of the old building of the HC.
“We will sit on a hunger strike tomorrow from 10 am to 2 pm. We remain firm in our opposition to the shifting of the court complex to North Guwahati,” he said.
He added that the GHCBA’s appeal to its members to abstain from attending the foundation stone laying ceremony also remains.
The new complex has been proposed as part of a judicial township at Rangmahal in North Guwahati, and Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, will lay the foundation stone of on Sunday.
Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and several judges of the Supreme Court are scheduled to attend the ceremony.
Advocate general Devajit Saikia, addressing a press conference, questioned the intentions of those leading the opposition and said, “The persons leading the show have deep political reasons. There is some nexus with political parties.” He also pointed that state Assembly elections are due soon, but refused to elaborate on it further.
Saikia, who had resigned from the GHCBA in March last year over the opposition to the shifting, dismissed points raised by the association in support of their resistance.
The chief minister, who was a practicing lawyer before being elected to the Assembly for the first time in 2001, had also given up his GHCBA membership in April over the same issue.
Saikia maintained that issues like distance to the new complex are ‘subjective considerations’ and said if there are concerns over matters like compensation paid in land acquisition, the details can be obtained through official means.
On the protesting lawyers’ contention that they were not consulted before deciding on shifting the complex, Saikia said it is not mandated to take the opinion of the advocates’ bodies for such a move.
He also refuted the claim that the state government decided to shift the HC, and said it was being done as per a decision of the full court under the then Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta in 2023.
The advocate general also cited a resolution of the GHCBA of November 2022, where it had said it had no objection if all courts are shifted to one campus.
Saikia claimed that the GHCBA was creating an incorrect narrative and said he will welcome it if they approach the court against the shifting, as the facts will then be in public.
“The office of the Advocate General condemns trivializing the issue. We thank the High Court for timely decision to relocate to a new campus,” he added.
The GHCBA has been vehemently opposing the relocation of the high court complex to the northern bank of the Brahmaputra from the existing place at the heart of the city.
The government is planning to construct the new judicial township at Rangmahal, spread across 129 bighas (over 42.5 acres).
In November last year, the state cabinet had approved Rs 479 crore in the first phase to construct a judicial township in North Guwahati.
Earlier, GHCBA had demanded an immediate halt to the project in the interest of all stakeholders and the public at large.
The Gauhati High Court is presently located in the Uzan Bazar area of central Guwahati on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra. It has a historical building, while a state-of-the-art multi-crore modern multi-storey structure was constructed and inaugurated a few years ago.
Both the buildings are located face-to-face on two sides of Mahatma Gandhi Road and are connected through an underground tunnel, having escalator facilities.
The Assam government is seeking to develop the riverfront of the Brahmaputra, for which it requires to acquire the high court land. PTI SSG RG MNB
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