Agra,the Taj city witnessed total shutdown Thursday as business chambers, trade associations and political parties observed a day long strike to demand a bench of the Allahabad High Court.
Most schools remained closed. Groups of lawyers and political workers went around various markets in the city requesting shop keepers to support the bandh. The response from the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party was however lukewarm.
The demand for a bench of the high court has long been hanging fire. The all-party committee spearheading the movement felt provoked after Meerut lawyers started lobbying with ruling party leaders in New Delhi to locate a bench in Meerut.
Agra’s case for a bench was supported by the centrally appointed Jaswant Singh Commission.
A three-member commission headed by retired judge of the Supreme Court of India Jaswant Singh, was appointed on Sep 4, 1981, to decide the location of the bench suggested by them.
