It will certainly not tantamount to an exaggeration if one says that denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP and equipping only Eastern UP with Bench, High Court and so also capital is nothing but the biggest betrayal and treachery of our Constitution by the successive governments in power in the Centre who oppose Bench on one pretext or the other thus proving to be the biggest stumbling block in the creation of more High Court Benches in needy regions like West UP. It must be candidly conceded that denying a High Court Bench to West UP is akin to a men having head but not hands to sustain himself by using his hands to put food into his mouth to reach stomach! It is the “poorest of poor” who are suffering the most due to a High Court Bench not being created here in West UP and it is the “richest of rich” who are gaining most due to more and more international airports coming up in different parts of UP!
While no one can have any qualms on setting up of more international airports but why so miserly on setting up of more High Court Benches especially in West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of UP with 30 districts in its jurisdiction and 10 crore population yet the litigants are compelled to travel not just till Lucknow known famously as “Nawab City” where a single Bench exists but 200 km far away till Allahabad to get justice which means more than 700 to 800 km on an average in which whole night and half day is wasted in travelling alone by train all the way to Allahabad to get justice? What plays upon my mind most of the time is: Why is Centre so dead determined that not a single High Court Bench should ever be created in whole of UP except the one that was created by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru way back in 1948 so close to Allahabad itself at Nawab City as it is the best decision on earth taken by any Prime Minister ever which must remain irreversible?
It is most conveniently ignored that the people of hilly areas of undivided UP had to travel thousands of kilometers all the way till Allahabad to seek justice for more than 53 years like slaves and ultimately when people revolted then the same Centre which earlier had refused to implement the landmark recommendations of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission Report headed by former Supreme Court Judge to create 3 High Court Benches for UP – two for hilly areas at Dehradun and Nainital and one for West UP while approving shamelessly one more High Court Bench for State like Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches most pompously announced the creation of a High Court itself at Nainital which has completed now more than 22 years of existence!
My learned senior in Meerut Bar and one of the most eminent and senior lawyer of Meerut with more than 60 years of most distinguished experience in criminal law especially named Shri KK Pahwa with whom I spent my initial years as a young lawyer has always stood up most vocally in favour of the sacred agitation of a High Court Bench in West Uttar Pradesh and written reams and reams on this key issue. He has even written a book on it titled “Bench Of High Court In Western Uttar Pradesh” which explains elaborately and most meticulously as to why a High Court Bench is so desperately needed in this region! I shall briefly dwell on key points which he said in his book.
Most emphatically, learned and senior lawyer Shri KK Pahwa minces just no words to point out unequivocally that, “Uttar Pradesh is one of the biggest of the states in our country. Areawise and population wise it is bigger than many a country in Europe. Distance between Saharanpur and Allahabad is about 752 kms. Long distances of six hundred to 752 kms, the resultant heavy expenses, inconvenience and strain of travelling and tremendous waste of time and energy of the litigant and their local counsel accompanying them from far off places can be said to be the important factors responsible for the demand of a High Court Bench in Western UP. Proper representation (pairvi) is impossible due to long distance and uncertainties of date of hearing at the High Court. At times the clients have to stay at Allahabad for months in the hope of being present on the date of hearing but the hearing is not done. Proper representation (pairvi) of cases by the clients from the distant West have virtually become an impossibility. The members of the Bar of Western Uttar Pradesh are fighting for the protection of the poor litigants. The objections raised by the members of the Bar of Allahabad High Court against the establishment of the Bench are unfounded and baseless. Recent trends in our Government Policy to administer justice is decentralization of judicial power. It is really a welcome step for achieving this. In Uttar Pradesh at least at all Tehsil head quarters the Munsif Courts are being established. The main object behind this is to make available justice to the citizens at cheap rates, conveniently and without delay. If this be the true spirit behind establishment of Munsif courts at Tehsil level then the same principle would apply in the case of establishing High Court Benches. The Seat of High Court is far away looking to the dimensions of our state making it practically difficult if not impossible to approach the jurisdiction of High Court. Besides it is costly, time consuming and very inconvenient for the litigants to pursue their cases in High Court, the same being far away from their places of abode. There should be rational provisions for establishment of High Court Benches to accomplish the declared policy of the State of making available justice to the citizens at cheap rates quickly and with convenience. Today there is a demand for a Bench in West Uttar Pradesh and the State is delaying it by making the problem political rather than social. On principle, Jaswant Singh Commission report has been accepted and now State is encouraging rift among lawyers to fix up the seat of such a Bench and is delaying the issue for their political games. Again is it ensuring justice, social, political and economic? Certainly it is not with all regrets and the reasons are open to all and sundry. Before it is too late and we may deny the constitutional guarantee, state should implement its own decision.”
It must be asked: Why can’t Centre jettison its unrelenting approach in case of setting up a High Court Bench in West UP? Where is the problem in it? Why Centre is least bothered about the litigants who have to travel so far whole night and half day by train to Allahabad to seek justice which is 200 km far away from even Lucknow where Bench is located? Why a peaceful State like Karnataka with population of just 6 crore has High Court and 3 Benches at Hubli, Dharwad and Gulbarga and a State like UP termed by former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon as “rape and crime capital of India” has just one and that too so close to Allahabad only? Why Centre approved in one go straightaway two High Court Benches for just 4 and 8 districts at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively in 2013 but for 30 districts of West UP with more than 10 crore population not one Bench was approved even though lawyers of West UP went on strike for 6 months in 2001 and so also strike every Saturday since May 1981 till now and one month hunger strike in 1978 and strike for five and a half months in 2014-15 and so on? Why Centre pompously announced Telangana as a separate State with just 3 or 3.5 crore population and approved High Court also but for 10 crore people of West UP not a single Bench is being approved? No wonder, new parties with demand for separate Statehood for West UP are coming up for which Centre is squarely responsible!
Most lamentably, we still see no ray of hope from either the Apex Court or Centre to act decisively on such a serious issue directly affecting the people at large! Apex Court which is seen as the last ray of hope in last 75 years very strongly feels that there is nothing wrong that the home state of the incumbent CJI Dr DY Chandrachud has multiple High Court Benches at Aurangabad, Panaji and Nagpur and the former CM Uddhav Thackeray even approved the fourth at Kolhapur for just 6 districts only and former CM Devendra Fadnavis wanted fifth one at Pune for just 3 districts! We all know that Maharashtra is most peaceful State in India and has topped the latest justice index ranking list and as former UP Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale said that women are safe in Maharashtra even in night all alone but in UP they are not safe in broad daylight with their families in national highways while listening a case of loot, robbery and attack on woman and girls in Bulandshahr in West UP! Yet Centre is dead determined that Maharashtra must have maximum High Court Benches and UP which tops the State list in having maximum pending cases must have just one and that too so close to Allahabad as decided by Pandit Nehru in 1948 and nowhere else!
It cannot be ever denied that ex CJI Ranjan Gogoi had himself conceded that West UP needs a High Court Bench while he was CJI in November 2018 while listening to a PIL by women lawyer KR Chitra and conceded that the litigants had to face a lot of hardships in travelling whole night and half day all the way to Allahabad to get justice but dismissed the petition saying that it was for Centre to decide on it but Centre has not done anything in it for last more than 75 years! Both Centre and Apex Court must remember that if they fail to still ensure that a Bench is created most promptly in West UP where it is needed most as people have to travel so far then the old adage that, “Rome is burning and Nero is playing the flute” will be definitely applicable to them for acting like Nero by not doing anything on it since last 75 years due to which the poor, deprived and the marginalized are compelled to travel whole night and half day right up till Allahabad to secure justice! Is the process not a punishment in itself? How can this be justified that Lucknow has a Bench since 1948 which is so close to Allahabad and not anywhere else due to which crores and crores of people have to face so much of hassles and inconvenience in travelling all the way to Allahabad to seek justice?
Parvez Alam