The case of a proposed multi-specialty hospital in front of a military camp near the sensitive India-Bangladesh border in Jorhat, Assam has reached the Supreme Court. The Army has expressed its objection that it may be used for drone operations and long-range sniper rifles.
The Army had initially objected to the no objection certificate given by the Jorhat Development Authority to a private company for the construction of the hospital. Now it has said that if permission is given to construct the hospital, it should have a concrete boundary wall more than 15 feet high with partitions and no window of the multi-storey building should face the army camp.
The bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma heard the side of the army officers along with Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the Centre. The bench remarked that it is necessary to strike a balance because on one side there is ‘public health’ and on the other side there is ‘national security’.
The Supreme Court has directed the ASG and the private company constructing the hospital, Dr. N. Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Sahewala & Company Private Limited, was asked to find a solution within two weeks. The bench said that the Army has said that it is not against the construction of the hospital as it can also be beneficial for its personnel in case of emergency, but there should be some security measures.
ASG Vikramjit Banerjee said, ‘The boundary wall of the hospital should be more than 15 feet high and there should be a divider in it. No window of the hospital should face the army camp. He said, ‘At present the situation on the India-Bangladesh border is very unstable. The threat is not only from long range sniper rifles, but drones can also be deployed for recce of the camp.
The Supreme Court, after recording the arguments given by an Army Colonel, said that a solution can be found by both the parties as both ‘public health’ and ‘national security’ are important. “We have requested ASG Vikramjit Banerjee and senior advocate Siddharth Dave to hold a meeting with Colonel Saurabh and consider ways and means of ensuring the security of the nation without neglecting other important aspects of public health,” the bench said in its January 8 order. We hope that the parties concerned will present to us the details of the meeting that will reach a positive and amicable resolution of the issues.
The court said that if the company building the hospital has to incur additional expenditure to take some additional security measures, then the Central Government can help it. During the hearing, Dave argued that the company had purchased eight bigha 17 lecha land in Jorhat town under Jorhat Municipality Board area and had applied for NOC from the development authority, which was granted on March 4, 2022, but it was later canceled following objections from the Army. He said that objections are being raised only regarding the construction of the hospital, whereas other constructions including a market are also present around the camp.
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