It warms the innermost cockles of my heart to note that Dr Satyapal Singh who is the former Mumbai Police Commissioner and presently represents Baghpat constituency raised most forcefully the pressing issue of setting up of a high court bench issue in Lok Sabha on March 9, 2016. He pointed out how despite UP having more than 22 crore population and 75 districts has least benches and West UP has none! Should we proud of this? He rightly said that, “I had raised the issue of the HC bench in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. This is not only a need for lawyers but also the need of the common people as well. There should be a bench in Meerut, Agra, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Jhansi. If the Lucknow bench of HC can be created for 12 districts, why can’t we have 4-5 separate benches for all the 75 districts in the state? The first war of independence began from Meerut and the movement to provide affordable justice to people should also start from Meerut. I have already written a letter to PM Modi and I will write to him again. We don’t need the consent of either the state government or the CJ of the Allahabad HC”. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee too had forcefully raised it in Parliament way back in 1986 and demanded the setting up of a bench in West UP!

Rajnath Singh who is number 2 in the present NDA government holding Home Minister portfolio too recently assured the creation of a high court bench at the earliest when a delegation of lawyers from West UP met him. He admitted that there was a dire need of a bench in West UP. Two years have already passed since this government came to power in Centre and now it must walk the talk and waste no time in creating a high court bench in West UP. Where the bench is created is not relevant. What is relevant is that a bench must be created at the earliest as the people have to travel so far all the way to Allahabad which is about 750 km away on an average from most of the districts of West UP and suffer all sorts of inconveniences! Most disgusting!

But Centre is following what the previous governments in Centre have followed – No bench not just in West UP but in any hook and corner of UP except at Lucknow which is so near to Allahabad! Centre wastes no time to set up 2 more benches for Karnataka at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts in 2012 but refuses to set up even a single bench for 26 districts in West UP! Dr Satyapal pointed out how despite West UP having a population of more than 9 crore has not even a single bench and the people are compelled to travel so far away to Allahabad to get justice. Why people of West UP have been treated like third rated citizens?

Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by retired Judge of Supreme Court – Jaswant Singh recommended creation of 3 benches for West UP in mid 1970s but till now not a single bench created even though on its recommendations a bench has been created at Aurangabad in Maharashtra as also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. For 4 and 8 districts at Dharwad and Gulbarga in Karnataka Centre created 2 more benches with one bench already at Hubli even though population of Karnataka is just 6 crore as opposed to West UP which is more than 9 crore and that of UP is more than 20 crore. The pending cases of Karnataka are less than 2 lakh and that of West UP is more than 5 lakh and that of UP is more than 10 lakh. Also, the Judges of Karnataka high court are just about 50 but of UP are 160 which previous government approved it to 200. Still why such blatant open favouritism for Karnataka and open raw discrimination with UP and West UP in particular? Please ponder!

Most recently, on April 29, 2016, Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal introduced a private member bill in Lok Sabha regarding the creation of a high court bench of the Allahabad high court in Western UP. He has demanded in his bill that a high court bench be created in Meerut so that the people of West UP don’t have to travel about 800-900 km away all the way to Allahabad to get justice. Senior lawyer and General Secretary of the Meerut Bar Association – Sanjay Sharma said, “We appreciate the move to introduce the private member bill in the Lok Sabha. We hope that this will gain momentum and the government will start the process soon. On April 23, we got an assurance of 17 MPs from Western UP for the creation of the HC bench. Now that the private member bill has been introduced, we will approach them again. We will speak to the respective MPs and ask them to gather support for Rajendra Agarwal’s bill”. He added, “Currently, the bill is in the Lok Sabha so we only need the support of BJP MPs. If the ruling party wants, it can easily pass this bill in the lower house. If the bill goes to Rajya Sabha, we will also seek meetings with senior leaders of opposition parties.”

Let me jog my readers memory a little back. It was way back in 1955 more than 60 years ago that Dr Sampoornanand who was the then UP CM very strongly recommended for creation of a high court bench in Meerut after lawyers and elected representatives from Western UP met him and apprised him of the dire need to do so. Not stopping here, many other UP CM – 17 like Banarsi Das, ND Tiwari, VP Singh, Rajnath Singh who is now India’s home minister etc strongly recommended creation of a high court bench in West UP but Centre refused. Centre strongly felt that it is in supreme national interest that people of West UP must suffer all inconveniences and travel thousands of kilometers and only a single bench should exist only at Lucknow just 150 km away from Allahabad and not anywhere else! What is that supreme national interest?

Till now 17 CM have recommended for creation of a bench in West UP but Centre feels it is just not enough. Former UP CM Mayawati had even recommended creation of West UP as a separate state to be named “Harit Pradesh” but Centre refused. Even present UP CM Akhilesh Yadav as also his senior Cabinet Minister Azam Khan have reiterated support for a bench in West UP by giving land, building for bench wherever Centre recommends but Centre has refused. Rajinder Chaudhary who is a senior Cabinet Minister in Akhilesh’s cabinet while addressing lawyers of West UP had even recommended creation of 6 benches in UP!

The lawyers of not just West UP but entire UP went on protest strike on 8 January, 2016 against the murder of one more lawyer Karamveer Singh in Saharanpur due to collapsing law and order situation here but bench cannot be given! Even as I am writing this, we all have been reading since day before yesterday how even NIA officers who are charged with nations security are themselves not safe in West UP and how Tanjil Ahmad who was investigating the Pathankot terror attack as also other terror cases involving SIMI was most brutally killed at Bijnore in West UP after criminals shot at him more than 40 bullets and he was immediately killed and his wife too is battling for life now! Nothing can be more horrible! An ASI Akhtar Khan was himself mowed down by bullets when he had gone along with police to nab some criminals in Greater Noida and he succumbed to his injuries! Still Centre is not considering it necessary to create a high court bench in West UP! Sometime back a lawyer was shot dead in Kanpur! This alone explains why even Ajay Kumar Shukla who is a senior advocate in Allahabad high court and former Chairman of UP Bar Council and also Madhulika Yadav who is Vice Chairman of UP Bar Council are supporting creation of bench in West UP yet Centre is mum!

The people of West UP led by lawyers have been peacefully protesting and even many CM have recommended apart from Justice Jaswant Singh Commission yet Centre is time and again not allowing bench to be set up inspite of acknowledging its dire necessity! Why Centre is ready to go over the board to appease one caste – Jats to whom even I belong though I am opposed to reservations on grounds of religion or caste as I feel that it should be only on economic basis and no other basis but what a pity that Centre is not ready to appease 9 crore people of West UP which includes Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of all castes and religions but is ready to appease 9 crore Jats? This is most shocking!

Shocking that UP which is among the largest States, has maximum population more than 20 crores, maximum districts – 75, maximum constituencies, maximum MPs and MLAs, maximum PM including Narendra Modi, maximum pending cases more than 10 lakh and here too West UP accounts for more than half of pending cases as noted by Justice Jaswant Commission about 57%, maximum Judges which earlier was 160 and increased to 200 in high court, maximum vacancies of Judges about 81 in high court, maximum poverty, maximum villages more than one lakh, maximum cities more than 700, maximum cases of human rights violations, maximum undertrials, maximum cases of crime, loot, arson and riots and here too West UP tops with Saharanpur riots, Meerut riots, Muzaffarnagar riots tarnishing our international reputation to the extent that UN Secretary General termed UP as “crime and rape capital” of India and what not yet Centre is not prepared to create even a single bench for not just West UP but entire UP! Shocking that UP sends maximum MPs to Lok Sabha – 80, maximum MPs to Rajya Sabha – 30, maximum MLAs to State Assembly – 404 MLAs and maximum members to State Legislative Council – 100 MLAs and yet has least benches – only one and that too just 150 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow!

Sanjay Sharma who is General Secretary of Meerut Bar Association and is presently spearheading the agitation for a high court bench in West UP through Central Action Committee set up for this very purpose way back in 1981 very rightly said that, “A new bench is going to affect 18-20 districts in the state and make life easy for everybody here. If politicians are worried that people in East UP may get offended, they are wrong. In fact, if the pendency of the Allahabad HC is reduced, it will only benefit them. Earlier politicians could easily ignore Western UP but that is not the case now. The demand for a high court bench in Western UP is not something that can be fulfilled by the state government. Constitutionally, they do not have the power to do so. It is something that only the Centre can do. The ruling party has an incentive to get this done and we also have the support of the people behind us. We will build a mass movement and press for this. It is ‘now or never’ for the High Court bench demand.”

For Haryana with just 2 crore population, Centre is contemplating setting up of a bench for Western Haryana and a 4 Judge panel comprising of high court judges of Punjab and Haryana high court had been set up for the purpose! The Assembly of Jharkhand has approved setting up of bench at Dumkur and it already has high court and population just 3 crore! When states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam etc have 3 or more benches then why should UP have only one bench and that too just 150 km away from Allahabad and West UP with more than 9 crore population have none? When UP has maximum pending cases among all states more than 10 lakhs and here too West UP accounts for more than half of them and here also in all heinous crimes like riots, rape, murder, arson, loot it is West UP which tops the list and yet West UP has no high court bench in any of the 26 districts which are about 750-900 km away from Allahabad and UP only one bench and that too very near to Allahabad at Lucknow which is just 150-200 km away! Is this fair? This is the crux of the matter! Centre must now create one! It brooks no delay anymore now.

-Sanjeev Sirohi,

Advocate