It must be stated at the very outset that it is quite bewildering and baffling to see that the state of UP which Ban ki moon who is the former UN Secretary General had slammed as the rape and crime capital of India has the least high court benches in India just one and that too just about 200 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow created way back on July 1 in 1948 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister! Since then not a single Bench has been created in any nook and corner of UP! What is even more reprehensible is that West UP comprising of 30 districts which owe for about more than half of the total pending cases of UP has not even a single bench of high court! Why such a raw, third rated and step motherly treatment for West UP and also other needy parts of UP like Bundelkhand and Purvanchal?
To put it differently: Why the high court and benches of 8 states and above all even Lahore high court in Pakistan is closer to West UP as compared to Allahabad high court? Why no attempt has been made to create more benches for UP particularly for West UP which owes for maximum riots, maximum rapes, maximum killings etc and still there is no bench here? Worst of all, why even the invaluable recommendation made by Justice Jaswant Singh who was a former Judge of the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and appointed by former PM late Mrs Indira Gandhi as head of Jaswant Singh Commission to look into where all benches were required and who recommended 3 benches for UP with main bench at Agra where high court itself of UP was located from 1866 to 1869 and 2 circuit benches at Dehradun and Nainital even though on its recommendations benches were created at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which has been functioning since 1985 as also at Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal?
Ironically enough, why even Supreme Court did not take notice of this glaring disparity and open cheating that was perpetrated on more than 9 crore people of West UP and set up an independent SIT (Special Investigation Team) to look into it as to why Centre backstabbed UP so brutally even though maximum PM have been from UP itself including late Mrs Indira Gandhi herself who had as PM set up the Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Apex Court Judge – Justice Jaswant Singh in mid seventies to look into where all Benches are needed and when it recommended 3 High Court Benches in undivided UP not even one was created even though on its recommendations Benches were created in other States like Aurangabad in Maharashtra which already had two High Court Benches and so also at Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal which too had a Bench at Port Blair!
Why was it that most preposterously the nearly one crore people of hilly areas of UP that was created into a separate state termed Uttarakhand in 2000 were still compelled most foolishly to travel like slaves more than thousands of kilometers all the way to Allahabad as Centre refused to set up a Bench either at Dehradun where the capital of Uttarakhand is now located or at Nainital where the High Court is now located? Why Supreme Court too kept watching everything like a mute spectator? Why Supreme Court did not take suo motu notice of the terrible sufferings faced by the people of now Uttarakhand for more than 50 long years till 2000 when it formed part of undivided UP? Apex Court has a lot to answer on this!
The most ticklish question to consider here is: Why other states where pending cases in high courts didn’t exceed even one lakh were given more benches and which already had benches like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Assam among others but UP was not given even a single more Bench after 1948? Why UP has more than 10 lakh pending cases in High Court and nearly one crore cases in lower courts which is more than half of the states cases put together and still it has just one High Court Bench and that too so close to Allahabad?
Why Centre has most contemptuously refused to create even a single High Court Bench in any nook and corner of UP including at West UP which has 30 districts? Why so many former PMs like Atal Bihari Vajpayee who raised the demand for a Bench right inside Parliament in 1986, Mrs Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh among others had all appreciated the dire need for a High Court Bench in West UP yet not even a single was created anywhere in UP? Why another lawless state Bihar has not even a single High Court Bench? Why so many UP CM like Dr Sampoornanand, ND Tiwari, Rajnath Singh and present Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had demanded a High Court Bench for Gorakhpur in Parliament in 1998 as he was MP from Gorakhpur then yet not even a single Bench created till now?
It also needs to be asked: Why Centre from 1955-2022 repeatedly took memorandums from the lawyers of West UP demanding very rightly the creation of a High Court Bench and assured them repeatedly while also labelling it as a justified demand but when it came to setting up of a Bench decided to most brashly ignore the legitimate claims of West UP as also Bundelkhand among other needy regions of UP and most ruthlessly instead gave green signal for creation of two more High Court circuit Benches by the UPA government in 2008 at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts which in 2013 were made main Benches in Karnataka which has just 6 crore population which is less than West UP alone which has 9 crore population? Why was it ignored by Centre that Allahabad High Court is the largest court not just in India but whole of Asia as was recently conceded also by UP CM Yogi Adityanath and is also one of the oldest High Courts in India along with Calcutta, Bombay and Madras yet has just one High Court Bench which is one of the worst stupidities that has not been rectified from 1947 till now in 2022 about 75 years later? Why UP has maximum Judges both in High Courts as also in the lower courts among all the states yet has just one Bench? Why UP has maximum districts 75, maximum constituencies 80, maximum MPs in Lok Sabha 80, maximum MPs in Rajya Sabha 31, maximum MLAs in Vidhan Sabha 404, maximum MLAs in Vidhan Parishad 100, maximum villages more than a whooping one lakh, maximum pending cases, maximum custodial deaths, maximum dowry deaths and what not yet has just one Bench? Why no attempt has been ever made to create more Benches?
To top it all: Why most shamelessly has Centre ignored that lawyers of West UP repeatedly went on strike for months and months together since last many decades as was seen in the one month hunger strike in 1978? Why even the six months old strike by lawyers of 30 districts of West UP as was done in 2001 and so also three to four months strike as was done in 2014-15, two months as was done in 2010 and one month as was done in 2009 apart from the strike every Saturday without break for more than 40 years since May 1981 till February 2022 apart from the so many strikes that we keep witnessing when some lawyer is killed by criminal or some other cause renewing the age old demand for a high court bench in West UP? Why nothing fails to shake Centre in taking any concrete step for creating a high court bench in West UP?
The million dollar question is: Why Centre fails to appreciate that the people of more than 30 districts of West UP are compelled foolishly like an ass to travel more than 700 to 800 km on an average all the way to Allahabad which takes a whole night and people are compelled irrationally to travel many times without reservations when they have to go all of a sudden many times as there is no high court bench in West UP? Why this worst form of injustice has been perpetrated on the more than 9 crore people of West UP from 1947 till 2022? Still should a high court bench not be created in West UP?
If not then why the hell has Lucknow a High Court Bench since 1948 for just 12 districts when the distance till Allahabad is just about 200 km? Can’t the people of Lucknow and adjoining districts travel just about 200 km to Allahabad when the people of more than 30 districts of West UP have to travel more than 750 km on an average all the way to Allahabad due to which whole night and half day is wasted inexplicably in the process? If Lucknow is capital then so also Bhopal is capital of MP but it has neither High Court nor any Bench and same is the case with Bhubaneshwar which is capital of Odisha, Dehradun which is capital of Uttarakhand, Dispur which is capital of Assam, Raipur which is capital of Chhattisgarh and Thiruvananthapuram which is capital of Kerala yet all these capital cities have neither High Court nor Bench? Is this fair?
What is most perplexing is the inevitable questions that crop up like: Why the population of West UP at more than 9 crore is more than all the other states except UP of which it is a part, Maharashtra and Bihar and here too the area of West UP at 98,933 square km is more than Bihar and here too the area of West UP at 98,933 square km is more than Bihar which has just 94,000 square km yet West UP has not even a Bench of High Court leave alone having High Court itself? Why Lucknow has Bench since 1948 for just 12 districts and area 62,000 square km but West UP with 30 districts and 98,933 square km has no bench at all? Why the extremely commendable recommendation made by many UP CM like Sampoornanand who in 1955 had recommended that a High Court Bench be created in Meerut was most contemptuously discarded by Centre?
Why when Mayawati as UP CM had recommended that West UP be created as a separate state in 1995 did Centre not just rejected it but also vowed never to create any bench in this region? Whose agenda is Centre working on? It is criminals who are gaining the most due to no Bench being created here!
Why even eminent Supreme Court lawyers like former thrice President of Supreme Court Bar Association and former Union Law Minister – Kapil Sibal strongly recommended for High Court Bench at Meerut in UPA’s tenure as was disclosed by another Union Minister then – RPN Singh yet no Bench was created anywhere in UP even though 2 more Benches were created at Karnataka which is such a peaceful state?
To say the least, why has Centre most brazenly disregarded the most commendable recommendation made by one of the most eminent jurist of India and two times Attorney General – late Soli J Sorabjee who as Attorney General in 2001 had categorically and convincingly recommended that Centre is fully empowered to create a High Court Bench in West UP without any recommendation from the Chief Justice or Chief Minister or anyone else in this regard? Why Centre even most shamelessly disregarded what former Chairman of Supreme Court Bar Association – BN Krishnamani had said that, “Only by the creation of a High Court Bench in any of the districts in West UP will the people living there get real justice? Why the landmark recommendations of 230th report of Law Commission of India in 2009 to create more High Court Benches implemented only in Karnataka?
There can be no gainsaying that if UP can’t be given more high court benches and West UP can’t have even one Bench then all the Benches in India must be disbanded right now itself because UP has maximum pending cases and if it can function without any Benches in needy regions like West UP who are suffering to the hilt then why Maharashtra which tops the state list in justice index has 3 High Court Benches?
Why political leaders rush to West UP only during elections and make tall promises only to forget later? Why leaders like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh among others had promised to set up a High Court Bench in West UP in 2017 but after winning just pretended as if they made no promise and now even in 2022 we see no High Court Benches being created here? This tantamount to making a complete mockery of the hopes and aspirations of the more than 9 crore people of West UP?
It also merits no reiteration that just spending lakhs and crores of rupees on national highways or on creating more airports as we saw recently in Kushinagar and Jewar in UP which PM Narendra Modi inaugurated most pompously serves no purpose if the poor and farmer class still are compelled to travel more than 750 km away on an average all the way to Allahabad like a joker. Just creating a sports university in Meerut serves no purpose if Meerut or any of the 30 districts of West UP are considered unfit for a High Court Bench in West UP! Why Centre tends to overlook that its own former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and so also BJP MP from Meerut Rajendra Agrawal and so also another BJP MP and former Union Minister Satyapal Singh too had supported the demand for a Bench in West UP with latter demanding five High Court Benches for UP at Meerut, Agra, Jhansi, Gorakhpur and Varanasi but on this Centre like previous governments have been most miser which is beyond comprehension?
As per the Section 51 of the States Re-Organisation Act of 1956, the Centre can create a High Court Bench in any of these 3 states – UP, Bihar and J&K directly by bringing it up in Parliament. Centre does not need any recommendation from State Government or the Chief Justice yet we see no action taken in any of these 3 states till now! It is known all over that criminals are encouraged to see that it take ages for cases to be decided in UP no matter how many tall claims are made by the CM as UP has least Benches in India and West UP and so also Bihar which are notorious for lawlessness have no Benches and no political party has ever shown a real interest in addressing this key issue with sincerity. UP former Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale while in office as Chief Justice in a case involving rape and loot of few women along with men on national highway in Bulandshahr in West UP rightly said that there is total lawlessness in UP as compared to Maharashtra where women can travel alone in night anywhere and this even I had myself seen at Pune from where I did my LLB from Symbiosis Law College yet Maharashtra has three High Court Benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji but for UP Centre is just not prepared to set up even a single Bench anywhere in UP even though the incumbent UP CM Yogi Adityanath had thundered for Bench for Gorakhpur in 1999 when he was MP yet now even after his completing his 5 years in office we see no Bench not just in West UP but even in Gorakhpur and other needy regions like Bundelkhand! This is the real rub!
Last but not the least: Why can’t Centre instead of just talking big during elections take serious steps like granting West UP a Bench which it so richly deserves to address this cancerous problem of pending cases root and branch? Why Centre is contended just by resorting to reducing time limit to reach Delhi by spending crores of rupees on creating 14 lane national highways etc or Allahabad from Meerut for which it spends Rs 36,000 crore rupees but is sitting with folded hands and doing just nothing at all to create more Benches anywhere in UP so that people especially of more than 30 districts of West UP are not compelled to travel whole night and half a day most stupidly to Allahabad on which even the Apex Court has conspicuously maintained a studied silence which is incomprehensible? What precedent is Centre setting on this?
In sum, it must be said: Why can’t this be done that a High Court Bench be created in any of the 30 districts of West UP? Is it really such a big deal that it takes more than 75 years to just think, think and do nothing but think on this? Definitely not. All that is needed is just a strong political will power as Congress demonstrated in Karnataka where it created 2 Benches for just 4 and 8 districts as mentioned earlier! Does PM Modi not have it? He has it in sheer abundance which we have seen also on many occasions but he is fearing the political fallouts of it on this key issue just like we saw since last 75 years in the case of former PMs.Sanjeev Sirohi