GUWAHATI, Aug 4: Despite strong opposition from the Gauhati High Court Bar Association over the proposed relocation of the high court complex, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said construction of the new premises will begin by the end of this year.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official function in North Guwahati, where the new building is proposed, Sarma said paying compensation to land owners has begun for acquiring their plots for the new Gauhati High Court complex.
“We will construct the new building of Gauhati High Court at Rangmahal. We have acquired 129 bighas (over 42.5 acres) for this. Today, we officially handed over the compensation to the land owners, from whom we had acquired land,” he added.
After the first step in this process, the land for the judicial township has been made by the government and now the Public Works Department (PWD) will proceed to construct the high court, Sarma said.
“I believe the PWD will take control of the land soon and start the next process. Usually the tender process takes 2-3 months. We hope to start the construction by the end of this year,” he added.
The Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA) has been vehemently opposing relocation of the high court complex to the northern banks of Brahmaputra from the existing place at the heart of the city.
Elaborating on the proposed new structure, the CM said, “We will construct the main high court along with the subordinate courts. We have planned a judicial township here. The architectural design is still under consideration of the HC, which may take another month to finalise it.”
He said that the new complex is likely to be the biggest high court in India.
“I feel there is no high court in India situated on such a large plot of land. It is going to be a big and beautiful project of Assam,” Sarma said.
Earlier, GHCBA had demanded an immediate halt to the project in the interest of all stakeholders and the public at large.
The HC is located in Uzan Bazar area of central Guwahati on the southern banks of 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 river front of Brahmaputra, for which it requires to acquire the High Court land. (PTI)