I am certainly not talking off the hat when I say that it is ‘shockingly bizarre’ that UP has maximum pending cases among all States that is more than 10 lakhs in High Courts and about a crore in lower courts and has maximum population and still has just one High Court Bench only so close to Allahabad High Court at Lucknow only and nowhere else.

This despite the irrefutable fact that it is Western UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of Uttar Pradesh but still has not even a single High Court Bench even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by a former Supreme Court Judge had recommended a High Court Bench for West UP as it owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP as acknowledged also by the Commission and total three High Court Benches for undivided Uttar Pradesh in 1980s were recommended yet not one created even though on its recommendations High Court Bench created at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji and so also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal which already had a Bench at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar for just 3 lakh people and so also at Madurai in Tamil Nadu. This is exactly that I find most startling! The age old question that still looms large is: Why is Centre so adamant on not creating a High Court Bench in West UP and so also in Bihar and is most happy that more and more international airports are created here which will only serve to benefit the “richest of the rich” and not the “poorest of the poor”?

Needless to say, Eastern UP alone having both High Court at Allahabad and a single Bench created way back in 1948 so close to Allahabad at Lucknow makes just no sense at all. When Eastern UP can have High Court and a Bench then why can’t West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP not have even a single High Court Bench? Please just spare a food of thought for it which directly affects more than 10 crore people of West UP who have to travel whole night and half day all the way right uptill Allahabad to seek justice!

It cannot be lightly dismissed that former Chief Minister in 1995 had recommended Statehood for West UP naming it as “Harit Pradesh” which means fit to have High Court itself but most intriguingly Centre is just not ready to concede even a single High Court Bench and is just clinging to its blind opposition to a Bench in West UP just likes a drunkard clings himself to a lamppost not to light himself on the way but to hide his own darkness from the rest of the world! Why Centre still nourishes the totally baseless, biased and misconceived notion that West UP needs no Bench? Why former PM late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee demanded a High Court Bench for West UP at Meerut in Parliament as Leader of Opposition in 1986 and even the then Congress government had conceded that West UP is in dire need for a Bench? Why way back in 1955 the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh – Sampoornanand had recommended a High Court Bench at Meerut? For far too long for more than 75 years this issue is still pending decision which I find totally incomprehensible!

Nothing on earth can justify the denial of a High Court Bench to West UP since last more than 75 years! It is heart-rending to see how hard the lawyers of West UP have protested and agitated so hard for a High Court going on strike for 6 months continuously as in 2001, one month hunger strike as in 1978, historic padyatra in 1989 and strike for a month in 2009-10 and so also strike for 5 and a half months as in 2014-15 and strike every Saturday from May 1981 till July 2023 which means more than 42 years and many times even on Wednesday also which was later discontinued keeping the interest of the litigants in mind and still no Bench! Why has Centre wedded itself to the illogical stand which is absolutely preposterous that only Eastern UP is alone best suited to have both High Court and a single Bench and no other region whether it is West UP or Bundelkhand or Purvanchal should ever even dream of it?

What leaves me totally fluttered, flummoxed and flabbergasted is to see how Centre has repeatedly cocked a snook at the most legitimate claim for a High Court Bench in West UP! Centre favours both High Court and a single Bench in Eastern UP only and is adamant not to allow even a single Bench in any other region of UP. This act is an autocratic act due to which the litigants have to travel whole night and half day not even till Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad which means more than 700 km on average far away from even Lahore High Court in Pakistan and it is certainly not a democratic act! Why the legitimate aspirations of the more than 10 crore people of West UP for a High Court Bench has been strangled so brazenly, so boldly and so blindly? Centre has a lot of explaining to do on it.

It must be asked: Why has Centre always buried itself in Pandit Nehru’s mindset that only Lucknow known famously as “Nawab City” is alone fit in whole of UP for a High Court Bench created by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru more than 75 years ago in 1948 and no other place is fit for it as they are presumed to be absolutely legally worthless cities just not fit to be given even a single High Court Bench under any circumstances. Why no party in Centre has dared to take any initiative in this direction even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission also recommended for a High Court Bench? It is well nigh impossible for any CJI to ignore the chilling ground reality which clearly demonstrates that it is lawless Bihar, West UP and other regions of UP like Bundelkhand and Purvanchal which needs High Court Bench as there is not even single in any of these regions and it is Eastern UP alone which has both High Court and a single Bench so close to each other!

But the moot question that arises here which keeps nagging my mind also is: Why UP lagging so behind in justice delivery system? Why there is just one Bench in whole of UP at Lucknow only so near to Allahabad and why the litigants of West UP have been attached not even with Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad which means more than 230 km away from even Lucknow to seek justice in High Court? It is the “poorest of the poor” who are worst affected yet Centre is most happy by creating more and more international airports at different cities but not a single High Court Bench created in any city except Lucknow in last more than 75 years! This is the real tragedy! Why we see that the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India recommending more High Court Benches for different States prepared under the Chairmanship of eminent former Supreme Court Judge Dr AR Lakshmanan has not been most strangely implemented even after 14 years of its landmark recommendations having been submitted?

Why has Centre always most callously and so also repeatedly and most deliberately preferred to not put its weight behind the most legitimate claim of West UP for a High Court Bench? It definitely deserves a food for thought as to why Centre has so deliberately, derisively and determinedly decided to ride roughshod over the legitimate claim of West UP for a Bench? So, the question to be really asked here is: Why has Centre never cared for the sentiments of more than 10 crore people for a High Court Bench in West UP? The people of West UP feel most empty and completely down-and-out due to Centre’s reckless and reprehensible approach in tackling this most serious Bench issue which is long waiting adjudication and for which even the MPs and MLAs of ruling party have forcefully supported the demand for a Bench in West UP and still we see no action on the ground!

Denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP is not just a minor handicap but has now become an albatross around UP’s neck which has to be handled right now before it becomes too late! Why so much of inexplicable delay in creating a Bench in West UP? The flimsy argument that recommendation is needed from UP Chief Justice or from UP CM is totally unsustainable as Centre is fully empowered to create at its own volition a High Court Bench in West UP as was clearly clarified also by former CJI Mr Ranjan Gogoi while listening to a PIL filed by a woman lawyer KR Chitra and had appreciated the dire need of Bench but while dismissing the petition in November 2018 had clearly held that it was for Centre alone who has to decide it. So how can Centre extricate itself from this onerous responsibility of ensuring a High Court Bench in West UP which directly affects a huge portion of UP’s population in a big way?

What is more shocking and pinching to note is the irrefutable fact that Centre has most foolishly refused to see the clear writing on the wall! Centre needs to step out of its comfort zone and take some strong, substantial and sensible stand on this Bench issue at the earliest as 75 years have already lapsed. Why can’t Centre do some out-of-the-box thinking on Bench issue in West UP?

By all accounts, when peaceful states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka can have multiple High Court Benches and so also West Bengal then why Uttar Pradesh termed by former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon as “rape and crime capital of India” be deprived of more Benches and especially West UP which has not even a single High Court Bench and where even women lawyers are not safe and get killed right outside their house as we saw happening with a woman lawyer in Meerut just recently and for which even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself had recommended a High Court Bench and yet not a single created so many decades later which compelled the lawyers of West UP to form a Central Action Committee and go on strike very Saturday as a mark of token protest against this most arbitrary, most whimsical and most atrocious discrimination perpetrated on the more than 10 crore people of West UP whose population is more than most of the States in India and yet has not even a Bench leave alone having High Court? This is the real rub!

For Telangana whose population is about 3.5 crore where people earlier demanded Bench Centre in 2014 on June 2 created it as a separate state and for just 4 and 8 districts of Karnataka created two High Court Benches in Dharwad and Gulbarga in 2008 but why Centre always keep dishing lame excuses for denying West UP even a single High Court Bench leave alone giving High Court by creating it as a separate state as recommended by former CM Mayawati while she was Chief Minister in 1995? This is the real rub! It cannot be definitely left unattended, unaddressed and Centre cannot pretend to always remain unruffled by all this mind-boggling fact that it is West UP which owes for maximum cases and still most perplexingly has not even a single Bench!

Is this not the biggest injustice on earth that a peaceful state like Maharashtra which tops in the latest justice index ranking list where women are safe totally alone even at night as conceded by former UP Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale whose native state is Maharashtra and still has maximum High Court Benches and UP where women are not safe even in national highway in broad daylight along with family as he conceded also while listening to a dacoity and loot case of women and girls in Bulandshahar in West UP and still UP has just one and here too West UP which owes for maximum pending cases has none? Most disgraceful! Nothing on earth can be more shameful than this!

What is the point of denying a High Court Bench to West UP since 1947 till 2023 is beyond my comprehension, to say the least! Centre needs to do a tight ropewalk on this long festering issue but must definitely address it at the earliest! What entirely ruins my peace of mind is: Why is Centre so dead determined to never allow even a single Bench in West UP and other needy regions? It is nowhere cast in stone that no Bench can be created at any place in UP other than Lucknow?

All told, the legal and the constitutional right of all the 10 crore citizens of West UP to get ‘speedy justice” and “justice at doorsteps” cannot at any cost be sacrificed shamelessly at the altar of political inexpediency and legislative lethargy! How can Centre just gloss over the avowed statement enshrined in our Constitution stating that, “Equal Justice for all”? How can Centre toss aside the legitimate claims for a Bench in West UP so lightly? Why the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India to set up more High Court Benches has not been implemented even after more than 14 years of it being submitted? Centre must definitely act now instead of just dishing out lame excuses!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut - 250001, Uttar Pradesh.