KOHIMA, AUG 11 (NPN) : A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed at Gauhati High Court Kohima bench through Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA) panel lawyer over non-construction of a jail in Longleng district.
The PIL, filed by Odi Jamir and Temsuyapang, has prayed for “issuance of appropriate order or direction directing the respondents to complete the construction of the District Jail at Longleng, for which the work orders were issued in 2006 and also to constitute an inquiry committee under the supervision of this court for inquiry/investigation into the utilisation or mis-utilisation of funds sanctioned for construction of the jail.”
The PIL submitted that since February 2, 2006, numerous work orders were awarded to two private parties by the State government for construction of Longleng District Jail and huge amount of money running into crore of rupees were being withdrawn for such constructions. However, the jail construction has not been completed to date, resulting in violation of prisoners’ rights, denial of speedy trial and various inconveniences to the justice delivery system, the PIL stated. It also stated that representation was made to the parties, which only yielded empty assurances. It may be mentioned that Longleng is the only district in the State that does not have a district jail to date for which under trial prisoners (UTPs) and convicts are lodged at Mokokchung District Jail, which takes two to three hours to traverse between the district headquarters.
The first work order was sanctioned on February 2, 2006 and more than 20 orders have been sanctioned to the parties to date.
A division bench of the court comprising Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice S Hukato Swu first heard the matter on August 4 and listed the matter again after five weeks.
During the time period, the respondents, including the State government, have been asked to take cognisance of the notice.
The petitioners were allowed to serve notice to private parties, who were made respondents to the case, through newspaper publication. “They shall do so by publishing the notice in two local dailies for two consecutive days making the same returnable on or before 08.09.2021,” the court ruled.
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