The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre, the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to file affidavits in connection with a petition by GNLF president Subash Ghising challenging the GTA Act 2011 claiming it was unconstitutional.
Justice Dipankar Dutta directed the three respondents and the petitioner to file affidavits and counter affidavits and fixed the next date of next hearing on July 20.
Ghising had, on June 14, filed a petition claiming that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Act 2011 was ultra vires of the Constitution and that the GTA Act could not be made applicable to the Darjeeling hills.
The petition claimed that the GTA Act could not come into force in Darjeeling hills without amending the Constitution.
The Constitution provides that if the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act, 1988 (DGHC) was repealed, the entire area would come under the purview of the Indian Panchayat and Municipalities Act, the petition stated. If the DGHC was scrapped, the new act could not come into force without amending the Constitution, Ghising’s petition claimed.