HT Bureau
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GUWAHATI, July 31: The Gauhati High Court Bar Association on Monday opposed the reported decision of the state government to relocate the Gauhati High Court from its present location to Rangmahal on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River.
The decision in this regard, reportedly, taken on May 23 last in the presence of some government officials.
The Guwahati High Court Bar Association on Monday called the decision/move to transfer the High Court strange, irrational, one-sided and authoritarian, amid protests since June against the sudden decision, which has kept the legal community, various bar associations and major stakeholders in the dark.
The union has already sent a memorandum to the President of India, the Chief Justice of India, the union law minister opposing the decision and has already staged a sit-in on June 27 and expressed its determination to conduct intensified democratic protests in the coming days.
After the decision taken on 23/05/2023, the Bar Association subsequently formed a high-level committee comprising two High Court judges, the advocate general of Assam and several government officials to protest against the unilaterally taken compliance measures taken by the state government
The association mentioned that just less than ten years ago, a new multi-storeyed building of the old High Court building was inaugurated at a cost of about Rs 100 crore of public funds. The abandonment of this addition/building, now designed and interiorized for courtrooms and related infrastructure, is an unreasonable step which is contrary to the interests of the lawyers, the litigants and the public.
The association further mentioned that district and magistrate courts have been operating in Guwahati since pre-independence era and the high court was originally operating from the old district court building and later shifted to the old high court building in much more than the capital extent.