Shillong, October 7: The ongoing protest by lawyers in Meghalaya intensified on Wednesday as hundreds of advocates marched through Shillong, demanding the removal of Advocate General Amit Kumar and alleging that assurances earlier given by the state government had not been honoured.
The rally, which saw participation from delegations of several district bar associations, came ahead of a scheduled meeting with Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on October 7.
Meghalaya High Court Bar Association Secretary General Kishore Gautam said the legal fraternity resumed its court boycott and took to the streets after Kumar allegedly continued appearing before courts despite an assurance from the Chief Minister that he and certain panel lawyers would refrain from doing so during the ongoing dispute.
“We have been agitating for quite some time. You are aware we had a meeting with the Chief Minister. An assurance was once again given that Amit Kumar will not appear in the High Court or any courts or tribunals in Meghalaya, as well as the panel lawyers we are agitating against. However, in the midst of that status quo, Amit Kumar started appearing in all courts,” Gautam said.
He claimed that he personally informed the Chief Minister through WhatsApp after Kumar allegedly resumed appearing in court.
“When such appearances were made, I informed the CM via WhatsApp about his appearances because in the last meeting he had given his number and said if there is anything you can contact me. But he is appearing every single day, not only in the High Court but in trial courts also,” Gautam said.
He alleged that the situation had forced the Bar to intensify its agitation.
“It seems the assurance of the government means nothing to him. Even the words of the Chief Minister mean nothing. So we took the drastic step of once again boycotting courts and today we had this rally,” he said.
Gautam said the participation in Wednesday’s rally demonstrated unity among members of the legal fraternity.
“Today you have seen what happened. A lot of members were there. Everybody stands in unison. Our demand is the same — removal of Amit Kumar,” he said.
He questioned why, despite repeated meetings and representations, the Bar’s demand had not yet resulted in concrete action.
“We don’t understand why Amit Kumar is so important. Our pleas, our meetings, our representations — nothing concrete has happened till now,” Gautam said.
On whether the Chief Minister’s earlier assurance had been given in writing, Gautam said it had not, but added that the lawyers had expected the verbal commitment to be honoured.
“It is not in writing but when it comes to the CM, we thought his assurance means something. We are not common citizens, we are lawyers. We thought till October 7 Amit Kumar will not appear,” he said.
He added that the lawyers had also met the Deputy Chief Minister earlier and claimed that similar assurances had been given.
Gautam warned that the agitation would continue in different forms if the matter remained unresolved.
“We will continue with different modes of agitation. We will have a meeting of the ECs of various district and High Court Bar Associations and take a call on what next we will do,” he said.
The allegations regarding the assurances and Kumar’s court appearances were made by the Bar Association. The response of the Advocate General or the state government was not included in the information provided.
