Lawyers march in protest over CJM Court shift; court boycott on Nov 11

Guwahati, Nov 10: Members of the Lawyers Association, Guwahati, staged a protest march opposing the temporary shifting of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kamrup (M) Court to the General Administration Department (GAD) building, in the city, on Monday.

The lawyers, accompanied by trainees and vendors, began their protest from the old CJM Court premises, marching via Cotton University, the Sessions Court and the Gauhati High Court before returning to the CJM campus.

Apurba Kumar Sarma, General Secretary of the Lawyers Association, Guwahati, said the decision was taken without consultation with the legal fraternity.

“The decision to shift the CJM Court to the GAD building, which was a duck shed earlier, has not been discussed with us. The government reasons that the old building is unsafe and may collapse anytime soon, but even the recent 5.8 magnitude earthquake could not shake it. This seems like a conspiracy to shift the court,” he said.

The association has also announced a court boycott on Tuesday, November 11, in protest against what they termed an “arbitrary” by authorities.

“We are aware that abstaining from work will cause inconvenience to the public, but when the government and court officials do not understand the language of memorandum, we are compelled to take stronger action,” Sarma said.

In a memorandum penned to the Chief Justice of Gauhati high court on November 7, the association had expressed “immense pain and displeasure” over the unnotified shifting of courts, terming it “horrible and shameful.”

The letter, signed by Association President Prodip Kumar Konwar and Sarma, stated that earlier, on August 25, 2025, three other courts had been shifted to the same GAD building at 2 am despite their objections.

The association plans to submit another memorandum reiterating its opposition to the relocation. 

Notably, the protest comes 24 hours after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is likely to lay the foundation stone for the new Gauhati High Court judicial complex at Rangmahal in North Guwahati in Januray 2026.

In a post-cabinet press meet on Sunday, Sarma had informed that the cabinet has sanctioned Rs 478.78 crore for the first phase of a state-of-the-art judicial township.