Guwahati, Jan 5: In view of the Gauhati High Court’s directive to the Assam government to compensate residents affected by the Batadrava demolition drive, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said the legal “loopholes” in the eviction process would have to be reformed.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday, Sarma said the court had said that some legal loopholes remained in the Batadrava demolition drive which have to be reformed.
“Any eviction process, where certain legal aspects are not adhered to, will have to be reformed. In the other areas of the state, such drives have been conducted as per law. In Batadrava, it was mentioned in the report by the SP (Nagaon district) that the eviction process was not completed. We will question the officials in this regard,” the chief minister said.
On Tuesday, hearing a suo motu public interest litigation, a division bench comprising Chief Justice R.M Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia had directed the state government to compensate people affected by the demolitions.
The suo motu case had been initiated in relation to the bulldozing of the houses of five men in Nagaon district who were accused of setting fire to the Batadrava police station in May 2022.
Devajit Saikia, the Advocate General, Assam, informed the court that a committee, headed by the chief secretary, was inquiring into the “bulldozer action” and appropriate action shall be taken even against the erring officers within 15 days.
Last month, the Assam chief minister, while speaking in the Assembly during a Zero Hour discussion on the eviction drive in Batadrava constituency in Nagaon district, asserted that eviction drives to clear ‘encroached’ government and forest land in the state would continue in accordance with the law.