Fresh demand raised for Gauhati High Court bench in Barak Valley

Silchar, Jan 15:  A renewed and formal demand for the establishment of a Circuit Bench or Permanent Bench of the Gauhati High Court in the Barak Valley has been raised, citing persistent hardships faced by litigants and lawyers due to the long distance and unreliable connectivity with the court’s principal seat in Guwahati.

Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb of the Silchar Bar has submitted a detailed representation to the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court and the Government of Assam, urging reconsideration of the long-pending demand.

In the representation, Deb highlighted that the Barak Valley is located nearly 350 kilometres away from Guwahati, with road and rail connectivity frequently disrupted by floods and landslides, making access to the High Court both uncertain and expensive.

He pointed out that such logistical challenges have had a direct impact on access to justice, particularly for economically weaker sections.

“The absence of a High Court Bench has effectively restricted the filing of writ petitions, public interest litigations and urgent constitutional matters, thereby undermining the constitutional mandate of timely and affordable justice,” the representation stated.

The senior advocate also drew attention to existing statutory provisions that enable the establishment of High Court benches away from the principal seat.

Citing the North Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971 and the States’ Reorganisation Act, 1956, Deb noted that the legal framework already provides for decentralisation of High Court functioning in geographically vast or difficult regions.

Recalling past developments, the representation mentioned that the Assam government had sought the Gauhati High Court’s views on setting up a Bench in the Barak Valley in 2014, but the proposal was deferred at that time.

However, Deb argued that circumstances have changed significantly over the past decade, with substantial demographic growth, a rise in litigation, and improved administrative and judicial infrastructure in the region.

The plea further cited precedents from across the country where High Court benches function successfully outside principal seats, including Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Siliguri in West Bengal and Hubballi in Karnataka.

According to the representation, these examples demonstrate how decentralised benches have eased pendency, reduced costs for litigants and improved public confidence in the justice delivery system.

Urging the state government to initiate the proposal afresh, the representation called for seeking the Gauhati High Court’s concurrence at the earliest.

It maintained that a Bench in the Barak Valley would not only reduce hardship for litigants and lawyers from southern Assam but also help decongest the principal seat at Guwahati, strengthening overall access to justice in the state.