West UP Deserves High Court Bench Since 1947

Nothing on earth can be more unfortunate than this irrefutable fact that even as India has gone way ahead of celebrating its 75th “National Republic Day” yet we see lamentably that the State of Uttar Pradesh which has maximum population more than 25 crores and so also has maximum MPs both in Lok Sabha and in Rajya Sabha and so also has maximum MLAs among all the States and so also has maximum villages more than one lakh and so also has maximum number of pending cases in High Court more than 10 lakh cases and here too more than half of the pending cases are from West UP and so also has maximum pending cases in lower courts about to touch nearly one crore and so also has maximum number of Judges in all courts both in lower and in High Courts and has maximum members in State Bar Council that is the maximum in the world and still has just one High Court Bench and that too so close to Allahabad at Lucknow established in 1948 more than 76 years ago where it was just not needed at all as it is so close to Allahabad in Eastern UP and nowhere else! Worst of all, the litigants of West UP were not attached with even Lucknow which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice as whole night and half day is wasted on just travelling alone! Former Chairman of Supreme Court Bar Association Krishna Mani had very categorically stated that, “Only by the creation of a bench of HC in West UP will the people be able to secure justice.” That West UP inspite of having more than 10 crore population has not even a single High Court Bench and States like Telangana was awarded Statehood in 2014 despite having just 3 crores population is what is most disturbing to note! That West UP does not have a Bench since 1947 till 2024 is most disquieting to note. It is a ghoulish mockery of Article 21 and Article 39A which provides for equal justice and free legal aid and the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India which more than 14 years ago strongly recommended creation of more High Court Benches yet lies unimplemented!

Many term Allahabad High Court as the biggest High Court in the world with maximum members in its Bar Council still why it has just one Bench only and why so many smaller States like Karnataka whose population is about 4 crore less than West UP at 6 crore whereas West UP alone has 10 crores population yet we see two High Court Bench created in one go by Centre in 2008 at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts only but not a single for 30 districts of West UP with population of more than 10 crores for which even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission in mid 1980s recommended a permanent Main High Court Bench but yet not created and Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches was given one more as recommended at Aurangabad but for undivided UP for which maximum 3 Benches were recommended not even a single Bench was most mercilessly allowed to come up in any part of UP! These bone chilling facts just cannot be swept inside the carpet and reflects the raw, rotten and ruthless discrimination perpetrated on North States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan!

It has been more than 14 years since the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India was submitted prepared under the Chairmanship of eminent former Supreme Court Judge Dr AR Lakshmanan but still it has not been most unfortunately implemented in big States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan. Why the landmark recommendations of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission set up by Centre itself under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge – Jaswant Singh was implemented most fraudulently by not approving even a single High Court Bench for undivided Uttar Pradesh for whom it recommended maximum three Benches at Agra, Dehradun and Nainital while most partially approving just one Bench recommended for Maharashtra at Aurangabad created most promptly in early 1980s which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji and so also at West Bengal in Jalpaiguri for just 6 districts which already had Bench at Port Blair for just 2 lakhs people and so also a Bench approved at Madurai in Tamil Nadu but West UP whose population is more than most of the States in India including Tamil Nadu at 10 crores was not given even a single Bench? This was the real reason why the people of hilly regions of undivided UP agitated for separate Statehood and ultimately Uttarakhand created in 2000 and for which not one Bench was conceded then for same Nainital we saw Centre conceding a separate High Court!

The billion dollar question is: Is this is what Centre wants to happen in UP also? By the way, Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan who is Union Minister recently in a Jat Summit in Meerut promised separate High Court and separate Statehood! What is Centre upto? Does it want huge agitations for separate Statehood in West UP? Can’t it approve even a single Bench for West UP? It must clarify! Why the litigants of 30 districts of West UP have to travel 500 to 750 km on average all the way to Allahabad which means whole night and half day by train to seek justice till Allahabad which is more than 230 km further from Lucknow where single Bench is located for just 8 districts and for which the people of West UP numbering more than 10 crore are made to suffer so much which in itself is the biggest injustice?

It must also be asked: Why has Bench remained elusive for West UP for such a long time? Why is Centre demonstrating so much of obduracy in addressing it? Why West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP has no High Court Bench? What is the point in denying West UP even a single Bench when it owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP and High Court at Allahabad is so far about 700 km on average for which Justice Jaswant Singh Commission also recommended strongly a Bench? What keeps on running in my mind most of the time is: Why is Centre so hell bent in denying West UP even a single Bench due to which the lawyers of West UP had gone on “total strike” on January 18, 2024? For 6 months in 2001 and in 2014 the lawyers of West UP had gone on 6 months strike for Bench and for two to three months also many times and one month hunger strike in 1976 and strike from May 1981 to May 2024 every Saturday to register strongest protest and many times even on Wednesday which was later discontinued so that litigants don’t suffer hugely!

It is definitely most deeply disappointing to see that even after more than 77 years of independence we still see that no party ruling in Centre has ever cared for the endless woes of the litigants of West UP which they have been facing by being made to travel whole night and half day all the way to Allahabad averaging 700 to 800 km due to the most despicable, dastardly and derisive stand of Centre to not allow even a single High Court Bench in whole of West UP or even in whole of UP even though former Mumbai Commissioner of Police and former Union Cabinet Minister in PM Narendra Modi’s regime Dr Satyapal Singh very strongly pitched his voice right inside Parliament a few years back in support of two High Court Benches for West UP at Meerut and Agra and in addition also demanded High Court Bench in Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Jhansi! As if this was not enough, former PM late Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself demanded High Court Bench for West UP at Meerut in 1986 as Opposition Leader in Parliament and so also many UP CM in past having recommended Bench with Sampoornand having recommended it in 1955 and with Mayawati recommending creation of West UP as a separate State in 1995 and still till now in May 2024, we see no High Court Bench set up anywhere not just in West UP but in whole of UP except the one at Lucknow where it was just not needed at all created way back in 1948 so near to Allahabad where High Court is located! Centre’s firm determination to help the “poorest of the poor” litigants can come to fruition only by the creation of more High Court Bench in needy regions like West UP, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand!

All that I am saying and submitting is that why can’t West UP have even a single Bench? Centre has no business to keep denying West UP a single Bench on one pretext or the other! Why the hell on earth such blatant, brazen, brutal and blind disrespect of Constitution has been allowed to fester, flourish and linger inordinately for such a long time?

Let me put it this way: Why does it not matter to Centre that the litigants of West UP have to travel so far to Allahabad which averages more than 700 km and the population of West UP is nearly half of UP at more than 10 crores and owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP and still not even one Bench? Why does it not matter to Centre that lawyers of West UP have been agitating and striking and doing not what not for a Bench yet after 77 years no Bench? Why does it not matter to Centre that even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge recommended Bench for West UP yet after so many decades no Bench?

It must be asked: Why is Centre mutilating Article 14 of Constitution by denying West UP even a single Bench and equipping Eastern UP alone with both High Court and a Bench? Why Maharashtra tops in latest Justice Index Ranking States list and still has maximum Benches and UP even though figuring in bottom and owing for maximum cases still one Bench only? Why West UP owing for more than half of the total pending cases has no Bench? This is definitely nothing else but is a sheer subversion of the Constitution itself and what it stands for!

Nation must know and citizens must know that what are the inexplicable reasons due to which West UP has been treated so contemptuously and so also Bihar which has not even a single High Court Bench! Centre’s shoddy handling in tackling this Bench issue cannot be ever brushed aside lightly! Centre may be facing unrelenting pressure from the powerful lobby deadly opposed to a Bench in West UP but throwing the baby out with the bathwater is hardly a sensible decision and Centre definitely cannot be applauded for doing just nothing to address it!

It was on auspicious November 26, 1949 that Constitution was prepared under the Chairmanship of Dr BR Ambedkar who is the key architect to ensure equality, liberty, justice and secularism without any discrimination on any ground whatsoever! Dr BR Ambdkar himself favoured division of UP into three parts – Central, Eastern and Western as separate States yet West UP leave alone High Court has not been given even a single High Court Bench! At this juncture, it would be material to note that justice and truth can be ensured only if there is a level playing field. What we see in case of distribution of High Court Benches in different States most unequally and most disgracefully is by Centre favouring few elite States like Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh to have multiple High Court Benches leaving out big States like UP, Rajasthan and Bihar to suffer most unjustly with just one or no Bench which makes a complete mockery of the very concept of justice, truth and equality as enshrined in Constitution and is definitely the biggest disrespect to it! Why Centre forgets that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”? Centre must refrain from “higgledy-piggledy” approach on such a serious issue as this as most unfortunately we have been witnessing since last 75 years of India becoming a Republic country!

Why can’t Centre even spare a food of thought at least for what a very senior and an eminent lawyer Mr Misbahuddin Siddiqui who is the former President also of Meerut District Bar very rightly pointed out lamenting saying that, “The problem is that the Allahabad High Court has the highest number of pending cases. The pressure is huge. Allahabad is very far from Western UP. It is around 800 km from Saharanpur. Eight other High Courts of eight different States or their Bench are closer to West UP most astonishingly, and interestingly Lahore High Court in Pakistan is closer than Allahabad High Court. The cost of travelling so far to Allahabad, and then staying there is huge for poor people. That is why we have been demanding a High Court Bench. Successive governments have denied us this.” Still why West UP has not even a single Bench?

It is high time and Supreme Court which is the last ray of hope must definitely step in and provide relief to the people by taking suo motu cognizance of it under Article 142 of Constitution as we see Centre not doing anything on it till now and must most promptly order creation of a High Court Bench in West UP! What can be more terrible than this on earth? Only one thing can be more terrible and that is the top court doing just nothing on it even though this directly concerns the judiciary!

It is high time that Supreme Court must stop watching everything like a helpless, hopeless and hapless spectator and take suo motu cognizance as it has done in so many other cases under Article 142 of the Constitution and promptly order Centre to create a High Court Bench in West UP as was recommended also by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge and not leave the more than 10 crores people of West UP at the whims and fancies of Centre to take its own sweet time to decide what it wants to do finally on this! I really just can’t second guess that why the hell on earth has this worst form of most atrocious discrimination between different States in allotment of Benches been perpetrated with impunity with most peaceful States like Maharashtra topping the latest “Justice Index Ranking State List” which is also the home State of incumbent CJI Hon’ble Dr DY Chandrachud has maximum High Court Benches and so also Karnataka which has multiple High Court Benches and UP which owes for maximum pending cases has just one and West UP which owes for more than half of the pending cases has none and so also another lawless State Bihar whose population is more than 15 crores has none and so also Rajasthan has just one! Only Supreme Court knows best that why it has tacitly given the thumbs-up to this most worst form of atrocious discrimination perpetrated so blindly, brazenly and brutally in creation of Benches in different States and what is most jaw-dropping to note is that even now we see no action being on ground to make course correction of any kind in this regard despite India celebrating its 75th year of “Republic Day” so pompously which is really most frustrating to see!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,

s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi,

A 82, Defence Enclave,

Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera,

Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.