The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has come under sharp criticism for allegedly violating the provisions of the GTA Act by failing to convene regular Sabha sessions.

A strongly worded letter by Ajoy Lucas Edwards, a Sabha member from the Darjeeling Sadar 3 constituency, has accused the GTA administration of sidelining democratic norms and rendering the Sabha ineffective.

Edwards heads the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front, whose members sit on Opposition benches. The Sabha has six Opposition members in the House of 45.

In his letter addressed to GTA chief executive Anit Thapa dated July 15, Edwards pointed out that only three general sessions and one emergency session of the Sabha had been held since the start of the current Sabha’s tenure in 2022.

According to the GTA Act, the Sabha must be convened at least once every three months.

“Your continued failure to convene the Sabha has effectively shut down the only platform available to elected Sabhasads to deliberate on public grievances, policies, and developmental concerns of the region,” Edwards wrote, calling the delay a “blatant disregard of the GTA Act”.

According to Edwards, the last Sabha session, held in October 2024, had resolved to constitute a high-powered committee to examine issues related to transferred subjects and strengthening of administrative autonomy.

However, Edwards noted that the committee, formed in March 2025 after a five-month delay, had since “disappeared into oblivion,” with no updates or accountability.

The letter, while seeking an early Sabha meeting, has listed nine key public issues that the Opposition wants to raise in the meeting.

These are:

Rollback of the tea, tourism and allied business policy-2019 and the subsequent notification that has triggered public resentment

Granting of permanent rights to tea garden workers to the land on which they have lived

Economic equity for workers and local people in the tea and tourism sectors

Settlement of unpaid dues, including provident fund, pensions and gratuity in tea gardens, and initiating legal proceedings against defaulters

Enforcement of minimum wages in the tea sector

Strengthening the GTA’s administrative autonomy, especially over land and land reforms

Full status report and action on Teesta flood rehabilitation

Leasing of GTA properties without Sabha resolution

Land issues concerning the plot near Lal Kothi, the administrative headquarters of the GTA.

Edwards, while demanding the immediate convening of the GTA Sabha, stressed that elected representatives must not remain “mute spectators” while people’s rights were trampled over and voices ignored.

Anjul Chowhan, the chairman of the GTA Sabha, told The Telegraph that the Sabha would be convened soon.

“We need to serve a notice of 14 days on all Sabha members to convene a session. The notice will be served next week,” said Chowhan.

He didn’t, however, provide a clear reason for the delays in convening the sessions earlier.