Guwahati, Sept. 28: Gauhati High Court today deferred the hearing of two PILs, filed by Akhil Gogoi and others, alleging largescale anomalies in the civil services examination conducted by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) to October 5.
The PIL filed by Akhil has also raised the issue of disproportionate assets acquired by APSC chairman Rakesh Paul.
In this regard, the petitioners placed reliance upon a letter written by Mukul Saikia in 2013, when he was superintendent of police (law, vigilance and anti-corruption), to the director-general of police (vigilance and anti-corruption) about Paul's alleged disproportionate assets.
The division bench, in its order dated September 7 2015, had directed the state government that "in order to have an effective inquiry it is just and necessary that Mukul Saikia be reposted as SP, law, vigilance and anti-corruption, Assam, within one week by the government."
But Saikia, who was posted as commandant of 8 Battalion, Assam police, Bongaigaon, was transferred to the law, vigilance and anti-corruption department only yesterday.
He was present in person before the division bench today and he was asked to file an affidavit giving details of the disproportionate assets acquired by Paul vis-à-vis his known sources of income.
Senior advocates P.K. Tiwari and Bhaskar Dev Konwar have been appointed as amicus curiae. Senior advocate S.S. Dey appeared for Paul while the state of Assam was represented by Assam advocate-general A.C. Buragohain.
Akhil flayed: Mrinal Kumar Saikia, a senior BJP leader who had filed a PIL in Gauhati High Court demanding eviction of suspected Bangladeshi migrants from Kaziranga National Park and its vicinity, today said KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi had become a "great problem" for Assam.
The criticism follows Akhil's call for mass agitation in protest against eviction notices issued by the revenue circle officer of Bokakhat, Bipul Das, to 666 families residing in the second, third and fifth addition of the national park.
The agitation is scheduled to be held in front of the office of the divisional forest officer of Kaziranga National Park in Kohora on Wednesday.
"It has become a habit for him (Akhil) to launch agitations only for the sake of agitation. For the greater welfare of the state and the people, it is inevitable to crush such negative powers from its root. Akhil's existence is being kept alive by the electronic media only and he is far removed from the actual problems of the peasants," Saikia said.
On October 5, 2012, Gauhati High Court had initiated suo motu proceedings in view of the public outcry against poaching at Kaziranga National Park vide PIL number 66/12. The PIL filed by Saikia on October 6, 2012 was listed along with PIL No. 66/12.
In August last year, the high court had directed Dispur to conduct an eviction drive in the sixth addition area of the park, including in the Deuchoor, Bandardubi and Palkhuwa areas.
"But it is unfortunate that when encroachment by suspected illegal migrants from Bangladeshi is threatening the very existence of Kaziranga, people like Akhil Gogoi have come to their rescue and are trying to safeguard the interest of these encroachers by taking their side," Saikia said.
The encroachers must be evicted from the Deuchoor, Bandardubi and Palkhuwa areas of Kaziranga at any cost, Saikia said.
He alleged that Akhil is misleading the indigenous people of Kaziranga by putting the fear of eviction in their mind.
Additional reporting by Ritupallab Saikia from Golaghat
