Gauhati HC Holds Govt Accountable for Merger of Hojai District

The Gauhati High Court on Wednesday held the Assam government responsible for the merger of the Hojai district.

While hearing a petition regarding the merger of Hojai district with Nagaon, the court held the state government accountable for it.

The court directed the government to file an affidavit within one month in connection with the matter.

This comes after a cabinet decision on December 31, last year had informed about the merger of four districts in Assam with the original undivided districts.

Earlier on Monday, a show cause notice was issued to the government in connection with the merger of four districts in the state.

Hearing a PIL in filed regarding the matter, the Gauhati HC had instructed the Assam government to provide information on the merger of four districts.

The court issued a show cause notice to the government and asked it provide the details within a month’s time.

It has come to the fore that a Congress leader named Dr. Sanju Baruah had filed the PIL in the first place. The PIL had been filed against the merger of Biswanath district.

It may be noted that on December 31, the Assam government informed about the decision to merge four districts of the state with the original undivided districts. The decision was taken at the state cabinet meeting in Delhi.

The decision was made in line with the delimitation process that has been initiated after the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to begin delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam as per Section 8A of the RP Act, 1950.

As per the decision taken by the government, Bajali district was merged with Barpeta district, Biswanath district was merged with Sonitpur district, Hojai district was merged with Nagaon district and Tamulpur district was merged with Baksa district.

The four districts were to become sub-divisions, bringing down the number of districts in Assam from 35 to 31. The meeting had also approved to bring North Guwahati Town Committee under Kamrup Metropolitan district.

Also Read: Gauhati HC Issues Show Cause Notice To Govt Over Merger Of 4 Districts

While making the decision, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma apologized to the people and said that the decision was temporary.

The decision of the state government was met with severe protests by several political parties in Assam's Biswanath.

The Indian National Congress, Asom Jatiya Parishad, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, CPM, CPI-ML had taken part in the protest.

During the sit-in programme, the protesters, held anti-BJP government placards and raised anti-government slogans in Biswanath Nagar. Leaders of the Congress, AAP, TMC, CPM, CPI-ML participated on behalf of the Opposition Unity Forum. All the opposition political parties collectively formed a protest movement to demand the scrapping of the decision and warned that the protest will continue till the cabinet decision of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is revoked.

Also Read: Assam Districts to Reduce From 35 to 31