Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Sonapur's Kochutali, on the outskirts of Guwahati, is again in the eye of a storm following resumption of an eviction drive by the district administration on Friday. The bulldozer action was done despite a stay order by Gauhati High Court and violation of the Supreme Court's order.
On Friday, April 4, the affected people again approached the HC. Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, while hearing the petition (WPC 167/2025) filed by 74 petitioners who are residents of Kochutali Pathar, reiterated that the interim stay order issued by the HC on January 10, 2025 had been extended until March 25, 2025. However, the extension of the interim order was not recorded by the court, he said, may be due to some inadvertence. He stated that the interim order will continue.
Providing details of the matter, the counsel for the petitioners, advocate A R Bhuyan, stated before the media that Kochutali is located in a tribal belt reserved for a certain category of people. The tribal people in the area had alleged that people of 'doubtful origin' have encroached on the land in Kochutali Pathar, the area where the eviction drive was started in September 2024. These people had built houses and were carrying on agricultural activities.
Bhuyan further said that the recent bulldozer action violated the stay order by Gauhati High Court as well as orders passed by the Supreme Court earlier. He said they are preparing to approach the HC for compensation to the affected people. That, the matter is also coming up for hearing in the SC, as another section of the people facing eviction from the land they had purchased from others had approached the SC. The SC had also issued a contempt of court notice for violation of its earlier directives.
The HC, in an earlier order on January 10, 2025, had permitted the petitioners to file representations before the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup (M) along with all supporting documents to prove their claims and thereafter, the DC, Kamrup (M) was directed to pass appropriate order after giving petitioners an opportunity of hearing. Subsequently, the representations were filed before the Kamrup (M) DC, but as per the information of the petitioners, no order had been passed by the DC.
Advocate Bhuyan also said that proper procedure was not followed while carrying out the eviction on Friday. The HC had earlier directed that status quo be maintained and not to take any action to evict the petitioners and issued the stay order. On Friday, April 4, the HC again said that the interim order dated January 10 will continue. He said the matter will come up for hearing next on April 8.
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