It does not seem to make any sense to suggest that only Eastern UP is alone best suited for High Court and a single Bench and so also capital of UP and Western UP and so also Bundelkhand and Purvanchal are totally legally worthless just not fit to be given even a Single High Court Bench under any circumstances! Just holding talks and long seminars on Constitution and applauding it for promising equality to all as envisaged in Article 14 of the Constitution does not seem to make any sense if they are actually not implemented on the ground. The argument that only Eastern UP is best suited for High Court and a single Bench is totally misconceived and unsustainable. Those who support such senseless arguments must never gloss over what former CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar had once said so famously that, “One set of citizens cannot prosper at the cost of another set of citizens, for that would not be fair or unreasonable.”
It cannot be glossed over that for securing a High Court Bench in West UP, the lawyers have waged a very long and relentless battle and have gone on hunger strikes as in 1978, 6 months strikes as in 2001, two months strike as in 2009-10 and so also 3 to 4 moths strike as in 2014-15 and strikes on Saturday since May 1981 till now by end of November 2022 and many times even on Wednesday and this Wednesday on November 30, 2022, the lawyers of West UP will gather at Meerut and chalk out strategies to give quick momentum to the age old demand for a High Court Bench here! It also cannot be glossed over that the lawyers of West UP have gone hither and thither in last 75 years doing padyatras and what not still no Bench created anywhere till now. It is high time and now Centre must act promptly to create a High Court Bench in West UP!
What is infinitely more outrageous is that Centre is still just not prepared to relent on it. More than anyone, it is Centre which is vested with the untrammelled power to create more High Court Benches as was even conceded by former CJI Ranjan Gogoi who will hearing a PIL filed by women lawyer KR Chitra conceded that there is legitimate ground for creation of High Court Bench in West UP as litigants have to travel whole night and half a day up till Allahabad to just attend court hearings but made it crystal clear that it is for Centre to take the final call on it! I am shocked and saddened beyond measure to see how Centre has strangulated the legitimate need of a High Court Bench for West UP! Why Centre is wedded to one-sided and lopsided view that only Eastern UP alone is fit for a High Court Bench?
Why is Centre so tongue tied on setting up of High Court Benches in needy States like UP, Rajasthan, Odisha and lawless State like Bihar? It is best to junk the junk Law Commission Report made more than 65 years ago forbidding the creation of more High Court Benches and adopt the recent 230th report of Law Commission of India which recommended creation of High Court Benches in all States and not just in one State named Karnataka where two more High Court Benches were created for Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts respectively! The moot question is: Why is Centre still clinging to the junk Law Commission of India report submitted in mid 1950s just like 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?
It is sad, shocking and surprising that why UP has least High Court Benches in India and West UP and lawless Bihar have none! Centre needs to promptly shun the bad habit of passing the buck of decision making to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court as it has been doing since past 75 years or somebody else and get into the mindset of helping people by making processes easier for them by in turn facilitating the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP! Why Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru took no time to create a High Court Bench for Lucknow which is so close to Allahabad? Should Centre not take some lesson from his decision and do the same in West UP, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal also?
Why when UP has maximum pending cases does it have just one Bench and here too why when maximum cases are from West UP still why there is no High Court Bench here? Why less deserving States have more High Court Benches than UP? UP having least High Court Benches in India and West UP none is the biggest stain on Indian democracy!
The fundamental point that I wish to make here is: For how long will Centre and Supreme Court just gloss over the compelling and legitimate demand for a High Court Bench in West UP and keep denying even a single High Court Bench as it has been doing most senselessly since last 75 years even though at Lucknow it created a Bench just less than one year after independence on July 1 in 1948? It is the bounden duty of the Centre that the relentless struggle by lawyers of West UP is taken to its logical conclusion by approving most promptly a High Court Bench in West UP. If this is not done soon then lawyers of West UP of all the districts here will keep boycotting work as they will boycott on November 30, 2022 and assemble and chalk out strategies on how to give a huge momentum to the relentless struggle for a High Court Bench in West UP by intensifying the agitation!
It must be definitely asked: Why Centre has always cold shouldered UP and in particular West UP by denying it even a single High Court Bench even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Jaswant Singh appointed by Centre itself had recommended High Court Bench for it and on its recommendations Benches were created in other States which already had multiple Benches! Why such an open cheating with UP and West UP in particular? In one line I will now like to conclude by saying that enough is enough and Centre must now stop fooling the more than 10 crore people of West UP on the key issue of High Court Bench by dishing out one lame excuse or the other to deny it its fair due!
