Uttaranchal lawyers want HC at Dehradun

Uttaranchal lawyers want HC at Dehradun
S.M.A. KAZMI

DEHRADUN, AUG 28: Other than the contentious issues of selection of the Chief Minister of the newly-carved out Uttaranchal state and its new Capital, the Dehradun Bar Association has demanded the setting up of high court of the new state at Dehradun. Lawyers affiliated to the Dehradun Bar Association today went on a day-long strike to press for their demand.

The token strike by the lawyers was aimed at preempting any move to set up high court at any other place. The Bar Association has decided to launch an agitation if their demand was not met.

The has been speculation in the local media and in the political circles that the high court of the new state would be set up at Haridwar. Whilelawyers of Haridwar have expressed happiness over the possibility, but this has enraged their counterparts in Dehradun.

The lawyers of Dehradun have played an active part in the decade-old agitation for a separate hill state of Uttaranchal and had been vocal in their demand for setting up the high court at Dehradun, since the region has the highest concentration of lawyers in the entire Garhwal and Kumoan divisions. But with the inclusion of Haridwar district in the new state, their calculations seems to be falling apart.

Surinder Pundir, secretary, Dehradun Bar Association, said that the lawyers of the city had been agitating for setting up of a separate high court here since long and several committees have also recommended that the high court of the hill state should be at DehraDun. ``Every Saturday we strike work in support of the demand,'' he added.

Prem Chand Sharma, president of the association said that of the 2,000 lawyers in the entire Uttaranchal region excluding Haridwar district, 1,300 of them are based at Dehradun. Surat Singh Negi, president of the Uttarakhand Lawyers Association, said that the people of the hill region want that Garsain be made the Capital of Uttaranchal and the high court at Dehradun. He maintained that the aim of providing speedy justice to the people of hill region would be defeated in case the high court was not set up at Dehradun.

But the demand would further divide the lawyers fraternity in the region. Already Nainital was also being tipped as the possible location of the High Court.