STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court Bar Association on Tuesday staged a protest in the city against the decision to shift the Gauhati High Court and other courts, including the Kamrup (metro) judiciary from their present location to a proposed judicial city at Rongmahal, North Guwahati, which is yet to have any infrastructure of any kind.
Association president Mrinal Kumar Choudhury said, “The move will not only affect the lawyers but will also cause great inconvenience to the public at large. Not to speak of other things, even for notarisation of a document people will have to go to North Guwahati.”
He further said, “The Association is of the view that judicial infrastructure can be developed in and around the present court campuses where land is available for such expansion. If such a huge convention centre can be built near the present High Court premises, there is no reason why the judicial infrastructure cannot be developed in and around the present premises. The present premises is not even 10 years old and was constructed at an expense of more than Rs 100 crore.”
Association secretary general Girin Pegu said that in this regard, they had written to the President of India, the Prime Minister, the Union Law Minister, the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court and other dignitaries. “The Association is of the view that the proposed city is an elitist concept. On paper it may look good but it will lead to practical difficulties for lawyers and people alike. The Association expresses displeasure over the manner in which the matter is being moved without taking the Bar into confidence,” said Pegu.
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