It is most astonishing, appalling and ashaming to note that in spite of UP being the "rape and crime capital of India" as was rightly slammed by none other than former UN Secretary General Ban ki moon while he was UN Secretary General and which accounts for the maximum pending cases in India which is more than the cases of 10 states put together still has least high court benches in India and that too just about 200 km away from Allahabad where high court itself is located at Lucknow created way back on July 1, 1948 leaving the rest of UP especially West UP, Bundelkhand and other areas high and dry! How can this be ever justified? What was the need for a high court bench in Lucknow which is so near to Allahabad?

More to the point, if Lucknow can be given a bench just because it is capital then why Bhopal has no bench which is capital of Madhya Pradesh, Raipur which is capital of Chhattisgarh has no bench, Thiruvananthapuram which is capital of Kerala has no bench, Dehradun which is capital of Uttarakhand has no bench and so is the case with many other capital cities like Bhubaneshwar which is capital of Odisha? Why Lucknow which is so near to Allahabad just 200 km away and has just 12 districts under its jurisdiction with about 62,000 square km can be given a bench more than 70 years ago in 1948 but West UP with about 98,933 square km and 26 districts can have no bench more than 70 years later in 2018?

Why is it conveniently and callously disregarded that the High Court of UP itself was initially in West UP at Agra from 1866 to 1869? Why after nearly 150 years in 2019 West UP can't have even a single bench of high court leave alone high court even though it is West UP which accounts for more than half of the total pending cases of UP as was testified by none other than Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by late PM Mrs Indira Gandhi to look into where all high court benches must be located? Why should a new independent, impartial and high powered Committee not be set up to look into why Mrs Indira Gandhi decided not to create a single bench in whole of the then undivided UP even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommended strongly to create a bench at Agra, Dehradun and Nainital while wasting no time to create a high court bench at Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Jalapiguri in Bengal which already had a bench at Port Blair for just 3 lakh people of Andaman and Nicobar islands and also at Tamil Nadu in Madurai?

Why Karnataka whose population at 6 crore is far less than even West UP at 9 crore what to say of entire UP at 22 crore as UP CM Yogi Adityanath and PM Narendra Modi keeps highlighting time and again and still Karnataka has high court and 3 benches at Hubli, Dharwad and Gulbarga? Karnataka which already had a bench at Hubli was given 2 more benches at Dharwad and Gulbarga in 2008 which in 2012 were made full time benches for just 4 and 8 districts respectively but for more than 9 crore people of West UP not a single bench created till now! Karnataka has just about less than two lakh pending cases and West UP alone has more than 5 lakh pending cases which is more than double of Karnataka still it has not even a single bench leave alone having a high court and 3 benches!

Why is it ignored that the population of West UP is more than all states except Maharashtra, Bihar and UP of which it is itself a part and accounts for nearly half of the population of UP and here too the area of West UP at 98,933 square km is more than that of Bihar at 94,000 square km still Bihar has a high court but West UP has not even a single bench of high court? Why talk of Bihar alone? Even many other states like Sikkim which has just about 100 pending cases has high court and even Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura with just about 36, 29 and 28 lakh population have been given high court which earlier had bench but West UP with such a huge population and such a huge pending cases has not even a single bench of high court!

What was the urgency in approving one more fourth bench for Maharashtra at Kolhapur for just 6 districts which already had 3 benches at Aurangabad, Panaji and Nagpur while denying even a single more bench for UP which tops the states list in maximum pending cases and here too not a single for West UP which witnesses maximum crime, maximum killings, maximum rapes, maximum gang rapes, maximum riots etc due to which the lawyers of West UP rightly went on strike? But Centre still cared a damn! Why UP has given maximum PM to India still has least benches in India just one?

It also cannot be dismissed lightly that the Supreme Court appreciated the good issues raised in the petition by a women advocate KR Chitra who had filed the petition for social organisation which is an NGO named "Fight For Human Rights" and conceded the strong points raised validly by her as the people of West UP of more than 26 districts numbering more than 9 crore are compelled to travel all the way to Allahabad which is about 600 to 750 km away from most of the districts as both High Court is in Eastern UP at Allahabad and a single bench just about 200 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow since July 1, 1948 and ever since then not a single bench has been created any where in any hook and corner of UP! This despite the glaring fact that many former UP CM like first and foremost Sampoornanand in 1955 had very stoutly and strongly raised the legitimate demand for the creation of a high court bench in West UP at Meerut but Nehru didn't accept his landmark and laudable recommendation!

Not just this, even many other UP Chief Ministers like ND Tiwari, Rajnath Singh and others too supported the demand for a high court bench in West UP but Centre never cooperated in taking this landmark and laudable recommendation to its logical conclusion! What is more, even this is not enough! In 1995-96, the then UP CM Mayawati wrote to Centre that West UP be created as a separate state to be named "Harit Pradesh" but again Centre did not accept it which if accepted would have ensured not just high court bench but high court itself for West UP!

How long will Centre keep trotting out lame excuses for not creating a high court bench in West UP? Why this present dispensation tends to be oblivious of the unpalatable truth that their topmost leader and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had himself supported the creation of a bench in West UP and had vociferously raised this sensitive issue right inside Parliament in Lok Sabha when he was the Opposition Leader in 1986? Why Centre also overlooks that it own national President Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi and top Union Cabinet ministers like Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Gen VK Singh, Dr Mahesh Sharma, Satyapal Singh who had even demanded 5 benches for UP at Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Jhansi and many others including former Union Ministers like Sanjeev Baliyan and all the elected representatives from West UP?

Why Centre also overlooks that it is West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP and this all the more necessitates the urgent setting up of a high court bench in West UP? Why Centre overlooks that even former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal had himself recommended a high court bench for West UP to be created at Meerut as was disclosed openly in public by another former Union Minister RPN Singh? Why Centre overlooks that even its own Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has himself categorically and clearly accepted the genuine need for a high court bench in West UP when apprised of the same and while meeting the delegation of lawyers from West UP along with Gen VK Singh who is Union Minister of State for External Affairs had assured his full support and said that if the place is decided then no time should be wasted in setting up a bench! Place is no issue! It should be set up where maximum districts want and it should be nearest from all districts of West UP and it is Meerut which fits best the description as it is closest to most of the districts of West UP then why can't a bench of high court be set up for West UP at Meerut?

Why Centre conveniently and callously ignores what the former UP Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale who just recently relinquished office had said while he was Chief Justice of UP that, "Women in UP are not safe even on national highways with their families whereas in Maharashtra women can venture out anywhere alone at any time without any fear of being killed or raped" still see the stark reality that Maharashtra has 4 benches and UP just one and West UP which reports maximum cases has none?

Why Centre ignores that Allahabad High Court is among the oldest high courts in India along with Calcutta and Bombay and is the biggest court in whole of Asia which has maximum Judges 160 still has just one bench only which is the least in India and yet nothing has been done other than what Nehru did 70 years back when he created a bench for Lucknow for just 12 districts and since then status quo continues unabashedly which is most repugnant and reprehensible? Why Centre ignores that cases in High Courts far exceed the lower courts pending cases also still UP has just one bench only and so is the case with other big states like Rajasthan which also has just one bench at Jaipur and others? Why Centre ignores that this is despite the irrefutable and irreversible truth that the 230threport of Law Commission of India had categorically and convincingly supported the setting up of more benches in big states like UP, Rajasthan and Bihar which has not even a single bench of high court?

How long will Centre keep overlooking the tremendous problems faced by the people of West UP in travelling whole night many times without reservation all the way to Allahabad, huge expenses incurred in staying expenses, hiring lawyer expenses etc? How long will Centre ignore that the high court and bench of 8 states are closer to West UP than Allahabad High Court? How long will Centre ignore that even Lahore High Court in Pakistan is nearer to West UP as compared to Allahabad?

How long will Centre ignore that lawyers of West UP have gone on strike for 6 months, 4 to 5 months, for a month and for several weeks in last few decades while pursuing relentlessly their legitimate and firm demand for a high court bench to be set up in West UP? How long will Centre ignore that lawyers of more than 20 districts have been going on strike relentlessly every Saturday since May 1981 till now even 38 years later? How long will Centre ignore that lawyers of West UP have on many occasions even gone on strike every Wednesday demanding the creation of a high court bench in West UP still it never showed the foresight to address this key issue?

Why is it ignored that even legal giants like Ram Jethmalani, Soli J Sorabjee, Kapil Sibal etc have time and again reiterated the dire need for setting up a high court bench in West UP? Why is it ignored that Soli J Sorabjee as Attorney General had said in 2001 that, "Centre can create a high court bench in West UP without any recommendation from the State Government or the Chief Justice." Why is it ignored that even former Supreme Court Bar Association Chairman BN Krishnamani had said that, "Only by the creation of a high court bench in West UP will the people living there get real and effective justice. It should not be denied to them rather should be given at the earliest."

As per Section 51 of the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, the Centre can create a high court bench in any of the 3 states – UP, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir by directly bringing it up in Parliament! Then why this dilly dallying and inaction on such an important and burning issue? Why now after Supreme Court has clarified its stand on bench in West UP that it is for Centre to decide and has itself appreciated the valid points raised can't Centre act swiftly and smartly on this?

What practical purpose is served by ensuring that there is just a single bench for such a large and lawless state like UP slammed by former UN Secretary General Ban ki moon as "rape and crime capital of India" which has maximum population more than 22 crores as UP CM Yogi Adityanath and PM Narendra Modi keep mentioning time and again, maximum villages more than one lakh whereas no other state has more than 5000 villages, maximum towns more than 900, maximum districts at 75, maximum MPs for Lok Sabha at 80, maximum MPs for Rajya Sabha at 31, maximum MLAs in Vidhan Parishad at 104, maximum MLAs in Vidhan Sabha at 404, maximum pending cases at more than 10 lakh which is more than 10 small states put together and here too West UP owes for more than half of them, maximum pending cases both in High Court and lower courts, maximum Judges in High Courts at 160, maximum Judges in lower courts which is more than several states put together, maximum Mayors, maximum elected representatives, maximum incidents of crime, maximum incidents of riots and communal violence etc? It is a crying national shame for which we all need to hang our heads in shame and sorrow! Centre must now step on the gas and act right now by promptly ordering the creation of a high court bench in West UP without forwarding any lame excuse of any kind which just doesn't wash!

Why first PM Jawaharlal Nehru can set up a bench just 200 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow in 1948 but Narendra Modi as PM who himself represents UP as MP from Varanasi constituency can't create a single bench anywhere not just in West UP but in any part of UP even though maximum cases of crime, rape, gang rape, riots in sensitive places etc are reported from UP especially West UP as in Meerut, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Agra, Aligarh, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar among other places? Why can't PM Modi show strong political will power like Nehru who had the guts to create a bench so close to Allahabad at Lucknow and create a bench in any of the 26 districts of West UP?

Rajendra Singh Jani, Advocate,
President, Meerut Bar Association,
Chairman of Central Action Committee for Establishment of High Court Bench in West UP,
Chamber No. 7,
Civil Court, Near Western Kutchery Gate,
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.