The Darjeeling Bar Association will resume work on Friday after receiving an assurance that there is no concrete proposal to shift the district’s juvenile court to Siliguri, ending a protest that had disrupted proceedings across several public offices.
Dinesh Chandra Rai, the association’s general secretary, said the bar had received a communication from Darjeeling district judge Ashutosh Kumar Singh on the proposed relocation of the Juvenile Justice Board. The communication stated that there was no concrete proposal to move the Darjeeling juvenile court to Siliguri, Rai said.
“We will join work now since we have received a communication from the district judge stating that there is no concrete proposal to shift the Darjeeling juvenile court to Siliguri,” Rai said.
The association had begun abstaining from work on Wednesday after adopting a resolution opposing the proposed relocation. The boycott extended beyond regular district court proceedings to the registration department, the consumer forum and the land and land reforms office.
The dispute followed an October 27 letter from the Bengal directorate of child rights and trafficking to the Darjeeling district magistrate. The letter asked the district administration to explore the feasibility of moving the Juvenile Justice Board to an area in or near Siliguri. The proposal raised concerns among local lawyers about the future of juvenile justice proceedings in Darjeeling and the institutional arrangements required for children and families using the system.
Rai said the bar understood that the Darjeeling court would continue to function even if additional courts were opened elsewhere in the state. “This assurance also fulfils our demand,” he said.
The issue highlights the administrative sensitivity of relocating a specialised court or board from a hill district to a larger urban centre. While the reported communication does not rule out the creation of additional facilities elsewhere, it reassures the Darjeeling bar that the existing court would not be shifted on the basis of the proposal described in the October letter.
Pranay Rai, the association’s vice-president, had earlier said that the local bar was not consulted on the proposed move. The association’s return to work follows the district judge’s communication and restores proceedings at the offices covered by the boycott.
The next step is for the Darjeeling court to continue functioning under the assurance communicated to the bar, while any future proposal concerning an additional juvenile justice facility would remain subject to the relevant administrative process.
