Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Wednesday sent a contempt notice to District Commissioner and the Additional District Commissioner (Revenue) of Dhubri district and the Circle Officer of Chapar Revenue Circle on alleged violation of its judgment during the course of an eviction drive in Assam in July.
The show cause notice was sent by Division Bench that included Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury.
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The directive was sent on a petition by 51 evicted residents who complained that they were not issued individual notices before the drive.
The petition also argued that by not serving individual notices, the officials deliberately bypassed the court’s 2024 decision, rendering it ineffective, as stated by The Indian Express.
The issue was triggered by an eviction drive on July 8 at revenue villages of Charuabakhra, Santoshpur and Chirakuta Pt. 1 within the Chapar Revenue Circle.
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The district administration ousted around 1,400 families, pre-dominantly Bengali Muslims, from 3,500 bighas of government khas land.
The official reason was attributed to “clear land for a proposed thermal power project.”
The court instructed officials to respond to the show cause notice by October 27.
This is the third occasion in the last one year that the Assam government has faced contempt proceedings over evictions.