By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: Chief Justice of India Justice P Sathasivam inaugurated the new Additional building of Gauhati High Court on Saturday in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and other dignitaries of the Judiciary fraternity of the country.
However, it was marred by a protest by a civil society group which objected at the location of the new building as illegal. “I fore mostly congratulate the Bar and Bench of the Guwahati High Court for their dynamic contribution to the ever-evolving jurisprudence of law over many decades. This is the only High Court in the country, which formerly had jurisdiction over seven states and concurrently, holding the jurisdiction over four states,” said Sathasivam after formally inaugurating the new building who is on a two day visit to the state.
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and other dignitaries during the formal inauguration of Gauhati High Court additional building.
The four-storied building with two blocks with all the modern facilities was completed with an amount of near about Rs. 66 crore. The total plinth area of the building is 10425.20 m2. The annual report of the Gauhati High Court and a CD of a short film on mediation, ‘Xanko – The Bridge’ were released on the occasion by the Chief Justice of India.
Training completion certificates were also given away to Judicial Officers of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh by the dignitaries present. Judges of the Supreme Court of India, Justice A.K. Patnaik, Justice J. Chalemeswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi along with Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, Justice AK Goel, Judge, Gauhati High Court, Justice I.A. Ansari, Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly Pranab Gogoi, Assam Law Minister Tanka Bahadur Rai and President, Gauhati High Court Bar Association, KN Choudhury were present on the occasion.
The representatives of civil society, Save Guwahati Build Guwahati stage a protest in front of the new building.
Earlier in the day, Sathasivam held a meeting with Judicial Officers and later in the evening interacted with members of the High Court Bar Associations of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. On the other hand, even as the Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam inaugurated the newly constructed Additional Building of Gauhati High Court in Guwahati on Saturday, a section of civil society staged protest terming the new building as illegal construction.
Civil society representatives under the banner of Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG), an NGO, alleged that the new building has violated the Guwahati City Master Plan and Nirmal Kumar Choudhury Expert Committee Report.
The newly constructed building of Gauhati High Court.
They will also send memorandums to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee and the CJI Sathasivam. “According to the provisions of the city Master Plan, the plot of land measuring 7 bighas 2 kaths and 5 lechas has originally been kept reserved for open parks and playgrounds. The expert committee report 2002 which was accepted by the Government of Assam already by its recommendation prohibited construction of multi-storeyed building in the areas between river Brahmaputra and the Mahatma Gandhi Road from Raj Bhwan to Kamkhya Hills,” said Ajay Dutta, former MLA and president of SGBG.
(Photos: Lal Singh)