SHILLONG, OCT 7: The lawyers’ revolt in Meghalaya escalated on Wednesday with hundreds of advocates marching through Shillong, accusing the state government of shielding Advocate General Amit Kumar despite repeated assurances.
The protest, joined by delegations of almost all district bar associations, came before a scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on October 7.
High Court Bar Association Secretary General Kishore Gautam said the Bar was forced back to the streets because AG Amit Kumar kept appearing in courts after the CM had assured he would not.
“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 said he personally alerted the Chief Minister.
“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,” he said.
“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,” Gautam said.
He said the show of strength proves the fraternity is united.
“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.
“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 the assurance not being in writing, Gautam said, “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. Before the CM, we also met the Deputy Chief Minister. Similar assurances were given but till now nothing has transpired.”
Warning of more agitation, he said, “Today’s rally is to show solidarity for the common good of the legal fraternity which the High Court Bar Association and Shillong Bar Association started. We are altogether in this. 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.”
