Guwahati: Lawyers Protested Against Govt’s Decision to Move Gauhati High Court to Rangmahal

GUWAHATI: The Assam government's intention to move the court from Guwahati to Rangmahal in Kamrup (Rural) district on the Northern Bank of the river Brahmaputra has angered the Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA), on Tuesday conducted a sit-in protest in front of the Gauhati High Court to show their displeasure.

The bar association had earlier on June 16 sent a memorandum to the President of India requesting that the decision to move the High Court be reversed.

On May 23, the cabinet meeting under the leadership of the chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and resolved to form a high-level committee to examine 100 bighas of land for the proposed High Court facility.

The committee would be made up of the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, the Advocate General of Assam, the Kamrup Deputy Commissioner, the Legal Remembrancer (LR), and the Special Secretary of Public Works (building and national highways).

The new facility will house the Gauhati High Court as well as other judicial courts from Kamrup Metropolitan and other Kamrup districts, as well as residential space for judges and other personnel, the meeting further determined.

According to GHCBA, bar members unanimously decided to oppose the proposal since it undercuts their function in the justice delivery system and disregards the convenience of the general public who litigates.

The proposal to move the High Court, it continued, would put a great deal of hardship on Guwahati's lawyers because they had built their offices and enterprises there. The length of time it took for lawyers to go to Amingaon from various parts of the city was also mentioned.

The Gauhati High Court was first focused on the seven North Eastern states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh when it was first established on April 5th, 1948. However, currently the Gauhati High Court has jurisdiction over the remaining four North Eastern states as a result of the creation of separate High Courts for the states of Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura.

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