GUWAHATI, April 30: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was a practicing lawyer before being elected to the state assembly in 2001, on Wednesday resigned from the Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA) over differences on shifting of the existing court premise to a new location.
Sarma said he has sent his resignation letter to the president of the bar association due to “conflict of interest”.
The GHCBA has been opposing relocation of the high court complex to Rangmahal in the northern bank of Brahmaputra from its existing address in the heart of the city.
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It has claimed that the decision to shift the court premise was a unilateral one and “the relocation to a remote area lacking adequate infrastructure will significantly impede the efficiency of legal proceedings, and adversely affect litigants and legal professionals”.
“As the chief minister, I am committed to constructing the new court premise at Rangmahal. The bar association is opposed to this decision of the government. With conflict of interest arising in the matter, I have tendered my resignation,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a panchayat election rally in Goalpara.
The chief minister’s resignation from the GHCBA comes within a month of the state’s advocate general Devajit Saikia also quitting the organisation over the issue of the bar association’s stand against shifting of the court premise.
The Gauhati High Court is at present located in the Uzan Bazar area on the southern bank of Brahmaputra. Apart from its old building, a modern multi-storey structure was constructed and inaugurated a few years ago.
The Assam government is seeking to develop the river front of Brahmaputra, for which it requires to acquire the high court land, officials said. (PTI)
