At the very outset, let me begin by first and foremost pointing out that it is strictly ensured in all the 26 districts of West UP every Saturday that no lawyer does any work in protest against Centre not setting up even a single bench of high court in any of the 26 districts of West UP even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Jaswant Singh and appointed by former PM late Mrs Indira Gandhi had recommended the setting up of 3 benches at Dehradun, Nainital and Agra. More intriguingly, on its recommendations benches were set up at Aurangabad on its recommendations as also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Madurai in Tamil Nadu! To protest this third rated treatment meted out to West UP, it was decided to observe strike every Saturday henceforth!
Needless to say, this has been happening regularly since May 1981. It has been more than 36 years and even now it is very strictly ensured by the office bearers of every Bar in West UP that no lawyer undertakes any work on this day! Interestingly enough, most of the lawyers themselves voluntarily join the protest strikes and keep shouting slogans demanding high court bench in West UP! It is most shocking that West UP with more than 9 crore population and so many districts numbering about 26 have not been considered fit enough to be given a bench and even Justice Jaswant Commission recommendations on it have been disregarded.
But what about the present PM Narendra Modi? He currently enjoys majority in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. BJP President Amit Shah had himself assured lawyers of West UP more than a year back that a high court bench would be soon set up in West UP. Even Rajnath Singh who is Union home Minister had given similar categorical assurances but to no avail! Just recently Dr Satyapal Singh who has been made Union Minister too vocally said recently that high court benches must be set up at Meerut, Agra and Gorakhpur. Apart from him there are many other Union Ministers who have all time and again raised their voice in support of the age old demand for a high court bench in West UP!
Let me be direct in asking: Why Allahabad High Court which last year completed 150 years of existence and which is Asia’s biggest court has just one high court bench and that too just 150-200 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow created way back in 1948 and why even as 2018 is about to start do we have no bench either in West UP or in Bundelkhand or at Gorakhpur from where UP CM Yogi Adityanath hails and who himself demanded a bench as MP way back in 1998? Why many other capitals like Bhopal which is capital of MP, Bhubaneshwar which is capital of Odisha, Thiruvananthapuram which is capital of Kerala, Dehradun which is capital of Odisha and many others have neither high court nor bench but Lucknow was chosen for bench and the deserving areas like the hilly areas which now for Uttarakhand and from where people had to travel more than 1000 km had no bench and same is the case with 26 districts of West UP as also with Bundelkhand and Gorakhpur? Why states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam etc which stand nowhere in terms of number of pending cases and crime as compared to UP and West UP have 3 high court benches apart from high court itself?
Simply put, it is West UP where maximum riots, maximum killings, maximum crime take place yet it has no bench as both high court at Allahabad and a single bench at Lucknow created way back in 1948 are both in Eastern UP and that too just about 150-200 km away from each other! Misbauddin Siddiqui who is the President of the Meerut District Bar Association lamented, “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 are closer to Western UP, and interestingly Lahore High Court in Pakistan is closer than Allahabad High Court. The cost of travelling 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.”
Truth be told, the population of West UP is more than all States except UP itself of which it is a part, Maharashtra and Bihar and here too areawise West UP with 98,000 square km is more than Bihar’s 94,000 square km! Still why it has no bench leave alone making it a separate state and giving it a high court itself as happened with Uttaranchal which at time of creation had just 88 lakh population and about 12 to 13 districts? Why our policymakers, PM and others in Centre are maintaining a deafening silence on it? They must come clear on it and spell out their stand! Deafening silence will just not do! No way!
In hindsight, people of all religions are united in West UP in demanding a high court bench here and unitedly they agitate which is an eye-opener for our leaders who always keep raking irrelevant issues which makes no difference to people’s lives and it makes me most happy to see the unity cutting across religious lines or community lines or gender lines or any other lines! But what comes as a biggest dampener is no action by Centre who earlier had vouched that if its party came to power in UP and Centre both then a high court bench will definitely be created in West UP! Nothing on earth can be more shocking!
Truly speaking, even eminent jurist Soli J Sorabjee had said that Centre can create a high court bench on its own in West UP without any recommendation either from the Chief Justice or State Government in this behalf still we see that Centre is taking no action! BN Krishnamani who was an eminent former Supreme Court Bar Association Chairman too had said that, “Only by the creation of a high court bench in West UP will the people get speedy and effective justice”. Whom is Centre trying to appease? Is it not emulating the previous governments? It is high time and it must now fulfil its responsibility and also its age old promises to the people of West UP that a high court bench in West UP would be created soon!
Last but not the least: Why eminent criminal lawyer, former President of Meerut Bar and present member of Bar Council of UP – Anil Kumar Bakshi proudly points out that he is among the few lawyers who have been to jail because of his active participation in the holy struggle for creating a high court bench in West UP? Why Justice BP Singh (retd) of Allahabad High Court too feels strongly that a high court bench must be set up in West UP? Why many senior and eminent lawyers of Allahabad High Court itself too feel that a high court bench must be set up in West UP? This is only because it is certainly one of the most holy struggle and this alone explains that why lawyers here are ready to go to any extent to ensure that a high court bench is created here and have braved police sticks and all barriers with the greatest of courage! Going on strike for months and months is easier said than done and only lawyers of West UP best understand that how much hardship they have faced to ensure that the sacred agitation for a high court bench in West UP continue uninterrupted! But the billion dollar question that arises here is: For how long will Centre continue ignoring the clear writing on the wall? Even Kapil Sibal as Union Law Minister had wanted a high court bench for West UP to be set up at Meerut as was disclosed by none other than another former Union Minister RPN Singh but former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav he alleged put a cropper in this and therefore nothing materialized! But now there are no excuses as it is BJP and BJP alone which is in power both in UP and Centre! Now only action is needed by setting up a high court bench here! BJP must act now!
Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col BPS Sirohi,
A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera,
Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.
