Democracy without an independent judiciary is hollow, said Gauhati High Court's Justice N Kotiswar Singh on Sunday.
At an event to lay the foundation stone of a court-cum-office building of the Gauhati bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal, he stressed the need for specialised knowledge of rules and regulations in service matters for practice in the tribunal which is uncommon in high court Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) chairperson Manjula Das laid the foundation stone, according to a statement by the Union Personnel Ministry.
Mr Singh and K R Surana, both sitting judges, and Justice B K Sharma, a retired judge of Gauhati High Court, were also present at the function.
"Judiciary is one of the important limbs of democracy and democracy without an independent judiciary is hollow," Justice Singh, who was the chief guest of the august gathering, said.
The tribunal's Guwahati bench adjudicates the service matters of not only the Central government civilian employees in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh but also of the staffers of the notified organisations posted in this region, the Union Personnel Ministry statement said.
Since its inception, the CAT's Guwahati bench has been functioning from a rented building at Rajgarh Road. It is in a dilapidated condition and lacks basic amenities for the proper functioning of the bench, it said.
Therefore, there was a constant demand from the stakeholders for the bench's own office-cum-court-complex with sufficient space and other state-of-the-art amenities. With this foundation stone-laying ceremony it will be fulfilled in the near future, the statement said.
After Manjula Das assumed charge as CAT chief on August 1 last year, the matter of transferring a suitable plot of land was vigorously taken up with the Assam government right up to the level of the chief minister. Due to his kind intervention, the plot of land was transferred in a very short time, it added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Biggest Test Of Democracy Is The King Tolerates Dissent, Says Nitin Gadkari Must Stop Calling District Judiciary "Subordinate": Chief Justice DY Chandrachud Jack Karlson, The Man Behind 'Democracy Manifest' Meme, Dies At 82 Hamas Confirms Yahya Sinwar Killed By Israel, Won't Free Hostages Until... Drone Footage Of Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar's Last Moments Released By Israel "War Can End Tomorrow If...": Netanyahu's Message After Killing Of Yahya Sinwar MK Stalin Asks Centre To Recall Tamil Nadu Governor In Row Over Anthem BJP May Have An Opportunity In Jharkhand Adani Group Donates Rs 100 Crore For Skills University In Telangana Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.