Siliguri, Dec. 18: The Siliguri Bar Association (SBA) has demanded the formation of a separate Siliguri district comprising the Siliguri subdivision and the entire municipal area, including Bhaktinagar and Dabgram. Both the places, though part of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, fall under Jalpaiguri district.

In a resolution adopted at a recent meeting, the bar association has decided to petition President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in this regard. ?We will also send copies of our resolution to the Prime Minister and the state chief minister,? said Ashok Basu, the SBA president.

The association?s move comes in the wake of the granting, in-principle, of Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills following a tripartite agreement in New Delhi on December 6. A wide section of the residents of the fast-growing town, observers said, are in favour of Siliguri being converted to a district. The lawyers? lobby, however, is not content with that and is also opposed to the granting of special status to the hills under the Sixth Schedule. ?As per Article 244 (2) of the Constitution, Sixth Schedule is applicable to specified tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram and not elsewhere. Besides, under Article 244 (1), the Fifth Schedule provides for administration and control of scheduled tribal areas in any part of the country other than those specified in Article 244 (2) and the Sixth Schedule,? the resolution stated indicating that the hills do not conform to the Sixth Schedule criteria.

Pointing out that all people in the hills are not tribals, it said, till now only the Bhutias, Sherpas, Dukpas, Tibetans, Yolmos, Lepchas, Tamangs and Limbus (Subba) are listed as tribals under Article 342 of the Constitution. The lawyers also argued that the Gorkhas as a community do not fall within the definition of Scheduled Caste or Tribe.

?The Gorkhas are not listed or notified as SC/STs under Article 341/342 of the Constitution. Moreover, even the DGHC Act of 1988 does not mention that the Gorkhas are STs,? the resolution stated.

?In such a scenario, can the GNLF or any other political party of the hills argue for the inclusion of the DGHC area in the Sixth Schedule? The answer is positively ?no?. Moreover, the people of the hills are now socially, educationally, economically advanced, and so the hills cannot be considered a backward area,? the lawyers said in their resolution.