Why Not Even A Single High Court Bench For West UP?

It is definitely most 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 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 still till now with 2024 about to begin we see no High Court Bench set up anywhere not just in West UP but in whole of UP except the one at Lucknow 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!

It was on auspicious November 26, 1949 that Constitution was prepared by eminent jurists and experts under Chairmanship of Dr BR Ambedkar who is the key architect to ensure equality, liberty, justice and secularism without any discrimination on any ground whatsoever! 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 giving few elite States like Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh 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 keeps mocking at UP knowing fully well that it is UP which tops the States list in having maximum number of pending cases and has maximum population and here too it is West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP and still no Bench?

Let me put it this way: 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 sheer subversion of Constitution itself and what it stands for!

What is worst is that even after 77 years we hardly notice any big change in Bench distribution and the 230th Report of Law Commission of India which recommended creation of more High Court Benches in States is still gathering dust! Why even Apex Court not once in last 77 years has dared to take suo motu cognizance of it under Article 142 of Constitution is truly incomprehensible? Why not one Bench created in last 75 years in Uttar Pradesh which owes for maximum pending cases among all States and West UP owes for more than half of them yet no Bench?

The billion dollar question is: Why lawless Bihar 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? This article aims to really explore dispassionately why such blatant, brazen and blind disrespect of Constitution has been allowed to fester, flourish and linger inordinately for such a long time! I must ventilate my deepest grievances on it.

I really just can’t fathom one single cogent reason as to why Eastern UP which already had High Court at Allahabad since more than 250 years was given High Court Bench also so close to Allahabad at Lucknow just about 230 km away way back in July 1948 and worst of all what I find most unfathomable is that we saw how all other regions including West UP and hilly areas of undivided Uttar Pradesh were deprived of even a single High Court Bench right since 1947 due to which litigants of hilly areas had to travel thousands of kilometers like a slave all the way to Allahabad not even Lucknow to seek justice which is more than 230 km away from Lucknow due to which litigants of West UP have to travel about 700 to 750 km on an average which means whole night and half day spent on just travelling alone and even in 2023 the position of West UP is no different and only hilly areas have got justice finally with people agitating and Centre ultimately granting it separate Statehood in November 2000 and thus it got High Court itself but the 10 crore people of West UP are still empty handed with Centre not allowing even a single High Court Bench to come up in any of the districts of West UP! If Lucknow is capital of Uttar Pradesh then Bhopal is capital of Madhya Pradesh but it has neither High Court which is at Jabalpur nor Bench which are at Indore and Gwalior and so also we see in many other States like Assam where capital is Dispur but it has neither High Court which is at Guwahati nor even a Bench!

PM Shri Narendra Modi is cent percent right that appeasement is the biggest hurdle for development and country’s growth. I hold PM in highest esteem and I would humbly submit that what rankles, ruffles and ruptures my peace of mind most is: Whom is Centre appeasing by denying West UP even a single High Court for nearly 80 years since independence even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommended maximum three High Court Benches for Uttar Pradesh yet not one has been created even after completion of 50 years of its recommendations? I have just no inkling as to why West UP is facing most brutal, brazen and blind discrimination from Centre by denying it even a single Bench even though it contributes more than 75 percent of State revenue and owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP which is most despicable, dangerous and dastardly act being perpetrated most openly and most irrationally trampling what Constitution stands for as enshrined in Article 14 which cannot be ever justified under any circumstances!

The heart of the matter is: Centre itself has turned out to be the biggest stumbling block in the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP and other needy regions. I am always left scratching my head as to why Centre is dilly-dallying this key issue since last 77 years when former CJI Ranjan Gogoi too had ruled as CJI while listening to a PIL filed by KM Chitra who is a woman lawyer through an NGO titled Fighting For Human Rights and who leaded for High Court Bench for West UP but CJI in November 2018 dismissed the petition while appreciating the compelling grounds that she listed apart from distance factor for a High Court Bench in West UP and said that it was for Centre to decide! Why since last 77 years Centre has never allowed the dice to be loaded in favour of West UP by approving a Bench and why most discriminatingly it is only Eastern UP which has been allowed to hold the sway over both High Court and a single Bench? This is precisely my point!

In the most blatant act of discrimination, partiality and cheating perpetrated openly upon by Centre most chillingly by approving one more High Court Bench for a peaceful State like Maharashtra at Aurangabad as recommended even though Maharashtra with much less pending cases already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji and so also for West Bengal at Jalpaiguri for just 6 districts as recommended by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge even though it had a Bench at Port Blair for just 3 lakh people and so also for Madurai at Tamil Nadu as recommended but not a single for UP even though it recommended maximum three for UP including one for West UP! Since May 1981 till May 2024, the lawyers of West UP have been going on strike every Saturday apart from six months strike in 2001 and 2014 and one month hunger strike in 1978 and many more such similar strikes in protest against this worst discrimination that was perpetrated upon by Centre and repeatedly made pleas for creating a Bench in any of the districts of West UP but all pleas fell on deaf ears!

When Centre can most pompously spend billions of rupees to reduce the time limit in travelling from Meerut to Delhi which is just about 70 kms then why can’t it simply just create a High Court Bench in any of the 22 districts of West UP so that the litigants who suffer the most endlessly by being made to travel whole night and half day averaging 700 to 750 km all the way not even till Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad and after most tiring journey then rush to High Court to submit important details including photograph and then start searching for hotel which many times are not available or are available at exorbitant rates but Centre most shockingly has done just nothing to address it as Allahabad High Court has red-flagged the e-filing also which I find most incomprehensible! Centre must act now and provide most durable solution by approving High Court Bench not just in West UP but also in other needy regions of UP like Bundelkhand and Purvanchal! It definitely now brooks no more delay anymore!

What sense does it make that West UP has been denied a Bench since last 77 years due to which litigants have to travel whole night and half day till Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice and equipping only Eastern UP which already had High Court with Bench also created 75 years ago at Lucknow so near to Allahabad and then attached West UP not even with Lucknow which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad most despotically? Why more than half of the pending cases are from West UP for whom even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself strongly recommended High Court Bench in West UP at Agra and still no Bench here but for other States like Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches one more was approved at Aurangabad just like at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal even though it is UP which tops the States list in having maximum number of pending cases? What rubbish!

As if this was not enough, Centre most disgracefully yet again approved two High Court Benches for Karnataka with a population of just 6 crores at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively but for West UP with a population of more than 10 crores and 30 districts with 22 districts coming under one banner yet we see Centre not approving even a single High Court Bench and keeps dishing out one lame excuse or the other to justify denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP which cannot be ever justified! To top it all, we find that even the Apex Court has failed to take suo motu cognizance of this open blatant fraud striking at the very root of the concept of “justice at doorsteps” and “equality” as envisaged in Article 14 of the Constitution! More than anything else, what pinches the people of West UP most is that Lucknow which is so close to Allahabad can have a High Court Bench since 1948 for just 12 districts but West UP with 30 districts even as mid-2024 is about to start is still not deemed fit by Centre for a Bench!

The billion dollar question is: When will Centre bring the curtains down on the most pressing issue of setting up a High Court Bench in West UP which has been hanging fire for a mind boggling time of more than 77 years? When will Centre go full throttle in ensuring that the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP is done now without any more dilly-dallying on one pretext or the other? On a broader plane, what must weigh maximum in Centre’s scheme of things is its commitment to ensure that the litigants of West UP gets justice at doorsteps which is its Constitutional obligation also which is possible only by the creation of a High Court Bench in any of the district of West UP at the earliest! It is high time and Centre must now implement the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India which about 15 years ago headed by its Chairman late Dr AR Lakshmanan strongly recommended creation of more High Court Benches in States!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,

s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi,

A 82, Defence Enclave,

Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera,

Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.