Dispur's tardiness irks Gauhati High Court

Encroachments in Kaziranga

BY Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Feb 8: The Gauhati High Court today issued notices to the State Chief Secretary and the deputy commissioners of gaon and Sonitpur for failure to evict encroachers in animal corridors of Kaziranga tiol Park.

The notices came on a contempt case filed by petitioner Mril Saikia which sought contempt proceedings against the respondents for failure to comply with an earlier court order.

A division bench of Justices Manjit Bhuyan and Hrishikesh Roy gave time till February 29 for the respondents to file their replies on the showcause notices, petitioner's counsel Rita Boro Bora said.

Earlier, the High Court on December 9 last had given a month's time to the State government to evict encroachers from the animal corridors of Palkhowa, Bandordubi, Dersursang etc of the Unesco World Heritage Site.

Three review petitions were filed against the court order, two of which - pertaining to Sonitpur and gaon districts - have been rejected.

The third review petition filed by residents of Golaghat district is under consideration. That is why the Golaghat deputy commissioner was exempted from the notice for the time being.