Guwahati: The Hojai district merger was attributed by the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday to the Assam government.
The court ruled the state government responsible for it while hearing a petition proposing the union of Hojai district with Nagaon.
The court ordered the government to provide an affidavit within a month in relation to the matter.
The merging of four Assam districts with the original undivided districts was announced by a cabinet decision on December 31, last year.
A show-cause notice was handed down to the government earlier on Monday in relation to the consolidation of four state districts.
The Gauhati HC had ordered the Assam government to submit information on the merger of four districts after hearing a PIL that had been filed in this regard.
The government was given a month to respond after the court issued a show-cause letter requesting the information.
It has come to light that a Congress leader named Dr. Sanju Baruah was the one who initially filed the PIL. The PIL was brought up in opposition to the merging of the Biswanath district.
It should be mentioned that the Assam government announced its decision to merge four of the state’s districts with the original undivided districts on December 31. The decision was made during the Delhi state cabinet meeting.
The decision was taken in accordance with the delimitation procedure that was started when the Election Commission (EC) decided to start delimiting Assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam in accordance with Section 8A of the RP Act, 1950.
According to the government’s decision, Tamulpur district was combined with Baksa district, Hojai district with Nagaon district, Biswanath district with Sonitpur district, and Bajali district with Barpeta district.
The four districts were to be divided into smaller subdivisions, reducing Assam’s total number of districts from 35 to 31. Also, it was decided at the conference to include North Guwahati Town Committee in the Kamrup Metropolitan district.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed regret to the populace while making the decision and explained that it was just temporary.
Several political parties in Biswanath of Assam, violently protested against the state government’s decision.
The Indian National Congress, Asom Jatiya Parishad, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, CPM, CPI-ML have taken part in the demonstration.
Protesters brandished anti-BJP government signs and shouted anti-government slogans during the sit-in programme in Biswanath Nagar. On behalf of the Opposition Unity Forum, participants included Congress, AAP, TMC, CPM, and CPI-ML leaders. Together, the opposition political parties organised a protest movement to call for the decision to be overturned and issued a warning that the demonstration would continue until Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s cabinet decision was overturned.