At the very outset, it must be asked: Why is it that no Chief Justice of India (CJI) ever dared to question the most horrendous decision taken by the first Prime Minister named Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to create a High Court Bench so near to Allahabad at Nawab City named Lucknow only in Eastern UP and at no other place in undivided Uttar Pradesh way back on July 19, 1948 when it started functioning? Why is it that no CJI ever dared to question the most horrendous decision to attach the hilly areas of undivided Uttar Pradesh just like 30 districts of West UP with not even Lucknow which falls 200 km earlier but with Allahabad? Does it not make a complete mockery of Article 21 of the Constitution? Why Apex Court demonstrated complete helplessness on it?
As if this was not enough, why is it that when a high powered Commission headed by the former Supreme Court Judge – Justice (Retd) Jaswant Singh appointed by Centre itself in mid 1970s had strongly recommended that three High Court Benches be created in undivided Uttar Pradesh at Dehradun, Nainital and Agra yet not one was created yet CJI said nothing? Why is it that on the recommendations of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission we saw that a High Court Bench was approved at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which started functioning since 1985 even though it had already multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji yet CJI said nothing? Why on recommendations again of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission we saw a High Court Bench approved for Jalpaiguri in West Bengal for just 6 districts which already had a Bench for just 3 lakh people at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar islands but not a single more for UP which tops the State list in having maximum pending cases yet CJI again said nothing? Why is it that UP Bar Council is the largest Bar Council in the world as claimed in the website of UP Bar Council itself and still UP has least Benches in India and that too so close to Allahabad leaving the other regions high and dry? Why UP High Court has maximum Judges among all the States but Bench just one? Is it not a grave violation of Article 14 of Constitution which talks about right to equality?
It must also be definitely asked: Why is it that when the historic 230th report of Law Commission of India prepared by eminent experts under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge – Dr AR Lakshmanan recommended creation of more High Court Benches in different States yet CJI said nothing? Why is it that when Centre in a most unfair manner all of a sudden decided to first create 2 circuit benches in Karnataka for just 4 and 8 districts at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively in 2008 and then as main benches in 2013 without there being any strike by lawyers or any other big agitation and on the contrary deciding most arbitrarily to not approve even a single High Court Bench for West UP as was actually recommended also by the Justice Jaswant Singh Commission for 30 districts of West UP with more than 10 crore population as opposed to just 6 crore population of Karnataka yet CJI did nothing? Why even after 14 years of such landmark recommendations made by the 230th report of Law Commission of India is it still lying unattended and unimplemented?
My simple and straightforward argument precisely is: Is this the best way of dismantling inequality? Should we be very proud that a peaceful State like Maharashtra which is the native State of the CJI Dr DY Chandrachud tops in the latest justice index ranking list of States and where women can go alone in night anywhere without any fear as was conceded also by former UP Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale whose native State is Maharashtra while he was UP Chief Justice as opposed to Uttar Pradesh where a women and girl is not safe even with her relatives in broad day light on national highway also while listening to an incident of crime against them in national highway in Bulandshahr again in West UP yet neither CJI nor UP Chief Justice does anything to create a Bench in West UP to end the worst discrimination against UP and West UP in particular? My reading of the Constitution certainly does not tell me that equality can be guaranteed and perpetuated only by ensuring always that both the High Court and so also the single High Court Bench in the most populated State of India are only in Eastern UP alone as Western UP, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal are considered “untouchables” for Bench as we have witnessed since last more than 75 years and here too all districts of West UP are attached again not with Lucknow which is 200 km earlier but right up till Allahabad which is 200 km still further to get justice!
To say the least, a fusillade of troubling questions keep tormenting my mind such as: Is this is what the Constitution teaches us? Should we really be ever proud of it? Is this is exactly what the learned CJI Dr DY Chandrachud who coincidentally is also from Maharashtra which has multiple High Court Benches should always applaud and be most proud of?
CJI must ask himself: Which State has maximum pending cases? Maharashtra which has 3 Benches and former CM Uddhav Thackeray approved even 4th at Kolhapur for just 6 districts or Assam which has four Benches or Karnataka which has 3 Benches or West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh which have two each or is it UP which has just one Bench? Again the answer is Uttar Pradesh! Which High Court has maximum Judges? Again Uttar Pradesh at 160 much more than the rest! Which part of the State of UP owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP as was conceded by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission report? Again the answer is West UP which has no Bench inspite of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommending the same! Should CJI Dr DY Chandrachud be proud of this? Should he feel proud that just like he did nothing in his nearly 3 years tenure as Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court similarly he should do nothing in his two year tenure as CJI?
One must also ask: Why has Centre and Apex Court and so also the CJI and PM have completely blindfolded themselves to presume that no region except “Nawab City” named Lucknow just 200 km away from Allahabad High Court is alone fit for Bench? It must be said without any reservation that Apex Court is the watchdog of democracy and so how can it keep quiet maintaining a deafening silence to the worst injustice perpetrated on the most populated State of India with impunity so brazenly and openly due to which the litigants of 30 districts of West UP have to waste whole night and half day in travelling alone to get justice? The burden is definitely on the shoulders of the Apex Court to pick up the gauntlet and rise to the occasion by creating a Bench in West UP!
As we all know, the incumbent Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr DY Chandrachud is not a stranger to Uttar Pradesh. He was the Chief Justice of Uttar Pradesh High Court at Allahabad for nearly three years as he himself concedes! It was in his term as Chief Justice that lawyers of West UP went on strike for five and a half months in 2014-15 demanding the creation of a High Court Bench! What I find quite baffling is that the CJI speaks a lot on the way Judges of UP behaves but why he never speaks on High Court Bench in West UP for which lawyers of West UP have gone on strike for 6 months as in 2001, hunger strike for one month as in 1978 and strike every Saturday since May 1981 till now after more than 42 years ?
CJI must ask himself: Why UP Bar Council is the largest Bar Council in the world as claimed in the website itself of UP Bar Council and yet UP has just one Bench? Will heavens fall if for more than 10 crore people of 30 districts of West UP a High Court Bench is created? Will heavens fall if like Maharashtra which is the native State of CJI, UP too has multiple Benches in needy regions like West UP, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal etc?
To be sure, CJI must also ask himself: Why when for most needy regions of UP like West UP, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal there is no Bench then why a Bench in Lucknow which is so close to Allahabad and why the litigants are made to travel 200 km further away from Lucknow till Allahabad to seek justice? Why catchy slogans like “speedy justice” and “justice at the doorsteps” seem to be fizzling out so rapidly? Why the historic 230th Report of Law Commission of India recommending the creation of more High Court Benches remains unimplemented even after 14 years of its recommendations? Why CJI has always allowed Centre to convert an open-and-shut case into an intractable issue?
I am most anguished and saddened beyond words to see that how all PM have acted like copycats of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that only Nawab City is alone fit for a Bench and no other city and all CJI have been a mute spectator in watching how an open mockery was being made of Article 14 of Constitution! Why the demand for a Bench has always fallen on deaf ears? Denial of a Bench to West UP since last more than 75 years cannot be ever countenanced under any circumstances!
CJI must introspect and ask himself: Why the litigants of 30 districts of West UP have to travel like a fool all the way to not even Lucknow but more than 200 km away till Allahabad to seek justice as there is no Bench in West UP! Was it just for fun that none other than former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself demanded Bench for West UP in Meerut as leader of Opposition right inside Parliament? Why a galaxy of prominent leaders like Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh among many others including the elected representatives in Parliament have time and again reiterated their full support for a Bench in West UP? Again is it just for fun?
No doubt, the paramount welfare of the people at large of all needy regions of UP like West UP and so also other States should be the watchword for Centre always! Centre must always remember that it got elected not to just serve the vested interests of only a particular region or religion or community or caste but of all the people of all the religions! If Centre fails to act as we have seen also in case of UP where not a single Bench created in nearly last 75 years not even for West UP then why CJI never dares to speak up on it? It is the litigants of West UP who will stand to gain the most if a High Court Bench is created here due to the CJI’s intervention! No denying it!
Parvez Alam