It has be said with deep dismay, utmost dejection and utter disappointment that this NDA government which came to power after categorically and convincingly promising the more than 9 crore people of West UP that their interminable sufferings faced by them in travelling to such a far off place like Allahabad for attending court hearings would be addressed by creating a high court bench in West UP has not lived up to its tall promises till now and has not walked the talk! Not a single bench of high court has been created not just in West UP but in any hook and corner of UP which only shows how disingenuous Centre's intentions were right from the start! What has further served to rub salt on the deep wounds of the people of West UP and UP is that Centre has pompously announced the setting up of a bench in Maharashtra at Kolhapur for just 6 districts even though Maharashtra already had benches of high court at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji! It is a matter of time before another bench will start operating in Pune as Maharashtra's young and promising CM Devendra Fadnavis had earlier assured in 2015 that there also a bench would be created which means then Maharashtra will have 5 benches!

To be sure, Devendra Fadnavis being a person with legal background who did a five-year integrated law degree from Government Law College, Nagpur knows fully well the invaluable importance of creating more benches and the immense benefits which accrue to the people living there but that is not the case with UP whose CM Yogi Adityanath has no legal background which alone explains why he always told the lawyers of West UP to approach Supreme Court for creating a bench in West UP instead of himself taking initiatives like Fadnavis did! When it comes to pending cases, Maharashtra is no patch to UP and has less than 1 lakh pending cases whereas UP has more than 10 lakh pending cases in high courts and even in lower courts it is UP which tops the list just like in high courts still Maharashtra already has 4 benches and may be soon may have 5 but UP has just one created more than 70 years ago by Nehru in 1948 on July 1 after less than a year of independence! Even population wise Maharashtra's population at 11 crore is half of that of UP at a whooping 22 crore as PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityananth proudly keep asserting time and again from dais while addressing public rallies! Still UP has least high court benches in India – only one and that too just about 200 km away from Allahabad where high court itself is located!

Needless to say, this NDA government headed by PM Narendra Modi always talks from every platform about "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas". By the way, this is the pet slogan of PM Modi! Who will benefit if a high court bench is created in West UP? Hindus alone or Muslims alone or Sikh alone or Christians alone? No, all the people hailing from all religions numbering more than 9 crore living in West UP will benefit equally!

Why then can't Centre promptly act and address the more than seven decade long demand of the people of West UP of having a high court bench who have to travel about 700 to 750 km on an average all the way whole night to Allahabad just because there is no bench in West UP? Now even Supreme Court has clarified the legal position on it! The Supreme Court just recently refused to entertain a PIL seeking establishment of a separate bench of the Allahabad High Court in Western UP, saying that this was not the right forum!

As it turned out, a Bench of Apex Court comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph said though a good issue has been raised in the petition, but the Apex Court cannot deal with it "on judicial side". When lady lawyer KR Chitra, appearing for NGO 'Fight For Human Rights', said that the litigants of Western Uttar Pradesh also need smooth access to the High Court, the Bench said, "You are absolutely right, but the choice of the forum is wrong. The prayer made in the writ petition i.e. establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court of Allahabad for Western Uttar Pradesh cannot be the subject matter of judicial determination and directions. The writ petition is, therefore, not maintainable and is accordingly dismissed." Now both Centre and State of UP cannot hide behind the false bogey of Supreme Court being the final authority to decide on it!

What must be admired, appreciated and applauded is that the zealous lady lawyer and human rights activist KR Chitra has finally been successful in making Supreme Court to spell out its clear stand on such a vital and vexed issue of setting up a bench in West UP which has been eluding any solution since last many decades and has successfully put a full stop to Centre's lame excuse as also UP State Government's specious plea that it is for the top court to take the final call on it! Now both Centre and UP State Government cannot hide behind any such lame excuses!

Bluntly put, the larger question is this: How long will Centre maintain a deafening silence on such a burning issue? Why people of West UP are treated like Pakistanis? Why Lahore High Court in Pakistan is nearer to West UP as compared to Allahabad? Why nothing has been done in last more than 70 years by any Government to address it notwithstanding the long agitation by the lawyers of West UP for the same?

Permit me to say: Is it fair that Lucknow has a bench since last more than 70 years even though it is so close to Allahabad just about 200 km away but not a single bench exists in any of the 26 districts of West UP even though they are 700 to 750 km away on an average from Allahabad where the people of West UP numbering more than 9 crore have to travel all the way to get justice? If Lucknow is capital then so is Raipur capital of Chhattisgarh, Bhopal which is capital of Madhya Pradesh, Thiruvananthapuram which is capital of Kerala, Bhubaneshwar which is capital of Odisha, Dehradun which is capital of Uttarakhand, Dispur which is capital of Assam and so is the case with many other capital cities which have neither high court nor bench! Why then capital, high court and bench all at Eastern UP and nothing at other parts of UP like West UP, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal etc? Why this is never highlighted actively by media?

Going forward, why is it not highlighted that this was the prime reason why such a huge agitation broke out for Uttarakhand to be carved out as a separate state which claimed many lives also before it was created as a separate state in 2000? More importantly, why were the people of 13 districts of Uttarakhand compelled to travel thousands and thousands of kilometers all the way to Allahabad to seek justice and why no regional bench was created there well in time? Most importantly, why were the landmark and laudable recommendations of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Jaswant Singh appointed by Centre itself to create 3 high court benches in the then undivided UP at Agra in Western UP, Dehradun and Nainital in hilly areas not implemented and why open favouritism was done by only creating a high court bench for Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Madurai in Tamil Nadu as recommended?

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."

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?

My point is short and simple: What stops Centre from creating a bench in West UP when it can create so many at other places with less population? Why Karnataka which has just 6 crore population which is less than even West UP at 9 crore has a high court at Bangalore and a bench at Hubli and as if this was not enough 2 more benches were created in 2008 at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts which in 2012 were made full benches? Why repeated request from the lawyers and people of West UP to Centre always fell on deaf ears?

Why the lawyers of 26 districts of West UP who went on strike for 6 months in 2001 and for 3 to 4 months in 2014-15 and for a month in 2010 and so is the case many times either every year or every alternate year has Centre never bothered to address this burning issue once and for all? Why Centre never cares for the more than 38 year old long strike every Saturday by lawyers of West UP who have been relentlessly striking in support of bench since May 1981 and many times even on Wednesdays? Why is Centre so insensitive even though its own top leaders and MPs from West UP repeatedly assure that they stand solidly and solely with them in support of their legitimate demand for a bench here?

What appears to have been completely glossed over is that this so sensitive issue has been hanging fire for more than 70 years which is most unfortunate! Even former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had demanded creation of high court bench in Parliament in West UP in 1986 and Union Minister Satyapal Singh went further and demanded 5 benches for Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Jhansi but not a single bench created till now even though many other Union ministers like Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Gen VK Singh, Dr Mahesh Sharma, etc have time and again reiterated their unstinted support for a bench in West UP! 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!

Truth be told, 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? Moreover, place is justa trivial issue which isbeing used as a ploy to stall the creation of a bench in West UP!

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 the landmark recommendations of 230th Law Commission of India to create more benches not implemented in one of the largest state of India with maximum population at 22 crore, 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?

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 by KR Chitra in her petition can't Centre act swiftly and smartly on this? What practical purpose is served by ensuring shamelessly 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"

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.