It is a monumental tragedy of the worst epic proportions that Uttar Pradesh which as we all know fully well is the most populated State of India with maximum number of pending cases has only one High Court Bench in Lucknow and that too in Eastern UP only where already there was High Court since centuries at Allahabad and nowhere else! It was way back in 1955 that the then UP CM Dr Sampoornanand had strongly recommended for a High Court Bench in Meerut after a delegation of elected representatives and lawyers met him and convinced him of the dire need of the same but the then PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru turned it down! We saw how later other UP CM like Mr ND Tiwari among others also recommended for a High Court Bench in West UP but Centre again turned it down! This is definitely most baffling indeed!

Worst of all, we witnessed later how mercilessly rubbing salt to the wounds of being wrongly denied a High Court Bench inspite of repeated agitations by the lawyers of West UP when Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by none other than Centre itself headed by none other than Justice Jaswant Singh and not politician Jaswant Singh who was a former Supreme Court Judge and who most strongly recommended 3 High Court Benches for undivided UP at Agra in Western UP, Dehradun and Nainital yet Centre deemed it totally unfit to approve even a single High Court Bench in any of these 3 cities while simultaneously and most astoundingly having just no compunction at all to approve a High Court Bench at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which already had High Court Benches in Nagpur and Panaji and so also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal for few districts which already had a Bench at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar islands for few lakhs of people but for more than 10 crore people of West UP and nearly one crore people of hilly region of undivided UP now a separate State named Uttarakhand not a single Bench approved which led to huge agitations by people of hilly areas culminating in Centre approving Statehood and High Court itself at Nainital for which earlier it did not allow even a single Bench! This is the real rub! When will this deadly, derisive, divisive and dangerous discrimination end between northern States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan and southern States who get not just High Court Bench but High Court itself at the drop of a hat?

The seminal truth is that Centre has been most biased when it comes to the question of setting up High Court Benches in the big and needy Northern India States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan for which it has displayed most miserly approach but when it comes to the Southern States, it has been most magnanimous for Southern States like Telangana where Statehood was approved in 2014 for just 3 crore population and Karnataka where it took no time create two Benches at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts only.

It is absolutely astounding to see how brazenly, blindly and brutally Centre has rode roughshod over the most legitimate and dire need for a Bench in West UP! Centre has just no business to keep denying West UP even a single Bench for such a long time! How can Centre ever be oblivious of the stark truth that it is West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP and owes for nearly half of the total population of UP and contributes more than 75% of the State’s revenue yet is mercilessly denied even a Single Bench due to which the litigants have to travel whole night and half day all the way till not even Lucknow which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice? All that I am saying and submitting is that why can’t West UP have even a single Bench more than 77 years after independence?

It must be asked: Why Centre favours multiple High Court Benches for peaceful States like Maharashtra and Karnataka and High Court itself for tiny regions like Telangana with just 3 or 3.5 crore population but for West UP with more than 10 crore population not even a High Court Bench is being approved? It is a Himalayan blunder that West UP is being deprived of even a single Bench even though none other than the former PM late Mr AB Vajpayee most vocally demanded High Court Bench for West UP at Meerut in Parliament in 1986 yet nearly 40 years later we still see no Bench created! It is an irrefutable fact that former Union Minister and former Mumbai Police Commissioner and BJP MP from Baghpat Dr Satyapal Singh demanded two High Court Benches for West UP in Meerut and Agra and so also at Jhansi in Bundelkhand and so also at Gorakhpur in Purvanchal and in Varanasi in Lok Sabha on March 9, 2016 yet after so many years all we see is a big blank and nothing else as Centre has done just virtually nothing on it which is the biggest tragedy perpetrated by Centre itself who inspite of pulling all the strings of power has been just sitting idle in taking any action since last nearly 10 years!

I really just can’t discern a single bona fide reason as to why West UP can’t have a single Bench for 30 districts of whom 22 districts lawyers have assembled under one banner under the leadership of Meerut Bar demanding Bench and have been going on strike also as for 6 months in 2001 and 2014 and so also for many weeks as in 2009 and many times for few months and one month hunger strike in 1976 and so also strike every Saturday since May 1981 till date yet Centre has all along brazenly disregarded the legitimate and compelling demand for a Bench in any of the districts of West UP! What has swept me completely off the feet is that even now Centre is doing just nothing on this to address the long pending most legitimate and compelling demand for a Bench in West UP! This is really atrocious!

By all accounts, the arrogance of Centre in denying West UP even a single Bench is on full display! What piques me most is: Why big States like UP and Rajasthan have only one Bench and most peaceful States like Maharashtra and Karnataka have multiple Benches and most lawless State like Bihar has none? Why do those in media not put questions to Centre on it and publish more editorials on such vital issues which directly affect the litigants most? What is often not recognized but is important to highlight is that voters in West UP do not merely elect a government for Eastern UP alone but for the development and welfare of all regions then why no government in power in Centre has ever ensured that a High Court Bench is created in regions other than in Eastern UP as for instance in Western UP, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal?

What will strike a chord with the people is what is done for them at the grassroot level! If a Bench is created in any region in any State, it is the whole region that stands to gain the most. When Congress in 2008 created two High Court Benches for mere 4 and 8 districts only at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively where, the whole region stood to gain and this is the real reason that why we see more prosperity in the South! What is the predicament of Centre in not doing anything on this score?

The question that really torments, troubles and tortures my peace of mind most is: Why has Centre refused to allow Benches for most needy States like UP, Rajasthan and lawless Bihar? Why Union Minister Mr Sanjeev Singh Baliyan just some time back in a Jat Summit in Meerut batted for West UP being created as a separate State with Meerut being the capital where High Court to be created but on ground we witness that Centre is not ready to approve even a single Bench on one pretext or the other? The irresistible conclusion that one can arrive at from it is simply this: Centre is just not at all keen to take any initiative to address the long pending demand which is most compelling also as conceded even by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and many other BJP tall leaders like Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who was earlier UP CM also and strongly raised the demand for Bench in West UP and a galaxy of such tall leaders including former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee also who demanded Bench in Meerut! It is a matter of deepest regret that Centre has been most stubborn in not sympathetically considering one of the most legitimate demand for a Bench in West UP which is just not acceptable!

It is a proven fact that UP is progressing most quickly in all directions under the bold and dynamic leadership of the incumbent CM Shri Yogi Adityanath but what is totally lacking is the firm determination to create even a single Bench in any nook and corner of UP other than the one created by Pandit Nehru more than 75 years ago at Lucknow where it was just not needed at all as it is so close to Allahabad where High Court itself is located! Yogi Adityanath had himself demanded Bench for Gorakhpur in 1999 and in 2015 even presented a Private Member Bill in this regard yet even as he is in his second tenure we see not even a single Bench created anywhere in whole of UP! At first blush, one can make out most easily as to which is the State in India that needs more High Court Benches yet Centre most chillingly is just refusing to acknowledge the clear writing on the wall and do anything to change to meet the present situation! This is what I really find most distressing!

Why can’t Centre spare a food of thought at least for what senior and eminent lawyer Mr Misbahuddin Siddiqui who is the former President of Meerut District Bar very rightly pointed out saying: 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.”

How fair will it be for Centre to ignore that none other than one of the most eminent jurist that Indian soil has ever produced and so also senior Supreme Court lawyer late Mr Soli J Sorabjee himself as Attorney General had strongly said in 2001 that:
The Centre without any recommendation from the State Chief Minister or Chief Justice of a State is fully empowered under our Constitution to set up a High Court Bench anywhere it wants at its own volition”?

How long can Centre afford to ignore what Mr BN Krishnamani who is the former President of Supreme Court Bar Association so very commendably said a couple of years back that:
Only by the creation of a Bench of High Court in West UP will the people be able to secure speedy and cheap justice at their doorsteps?”

How can Centre ever brush aside what Mr Gajendra Pal Singh who is the former President of Meerut Bar elected as President on multiple occasions so very aptly lamented that:
Western UP still does not have a High Court Bench. Think of this, Western UP is 98,933 square kilometers in area. It is bigger than countries like Hungary, Portugal and Jordan. Plus, the population of West UP is huge. We have been demanding a High Court Bench for so long. Successive governments have done nothing about it. This High Court Bench has been promised to us multiple times by different politicians. But nothing has happened. All those statements are only political statements, nothing else!” It is because of all this that the lawyers of West UP of 22 districts as decided by Central Action Committee” spearheaded by Meerut Bar will march on January 18, 2024 straight to PM Mr Narendra Modi residence and submit memorandum demanding High Court Bench in West UP reiterating yet again the same age old demand from the time when I nearing 50 was not even born! Centre must act now immediately!

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