“The good of the people is the greatest law.”
– Cicero
It is really most touching to see how Centre has most callously cold-shouldered the most legitimate and most compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP since last 78 years of independence! Why can’t Centre think out of the box and take bold initiative in this regard to hammer out a permanent solution on setting up of a Bench so that the litigants especially those who are poor are not made to travel whole night and half day all the way not even till Lucknow which has a High Court Bench since 1948 and which is so near to Allahabad but the litigants of West UP are made to travel even far away right till Allahabad most horribly to seek justice which in itself is the biggest betrayal of Constitution and justice? It is Centre which has got people’s mandate to address the problems which they face and so under no circumstances it cannot be ever allowed to just conveniently shrug off its huge responsibility by blaming someone else for it and washing its hands away from this whole key issue that has been hogging the limelight since such a long time!
Of course, this has definitely done no good rather damaged most seriously the untarnished credibility of both Centre and so also the Supreme Court which does not tolerate cheating even in a Mayor election as we saw some time back in Chandigarh and interferes very rightly but on this affecting millions of litigants has failed utterly to do anything substantial in this regard and ensuring that a High Court Bench is created in West UP as was recommended by even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself who recommended three High Court Benches for undivided UP including a permanent High Court Bench for West UP yet nearly 50 years later not a single High Court Bench created on its recommendations in UP even though on its recommendations High Court Benches were created in other States like Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches in Nagpur and Panaji and has far less pending cases than UP which tops the State list in having maximum pending cases and here too West UP owes for majority of pending cases of UP and for which permanent Bench was recommended yet most disgracefully not a single created for 30 districts of West UP and even for West Bengal which already had a High Court Bench at Port Blair for Andaman and Nicobar islands for just few lakhs people one more was created at Jalpaiguri as recommended for just 6 districts and so also for Madurai in Tamil Nadu for few districts! Tamil Nadu has just 7 crore population and West UP more than 10 crores still not even a single High Court Bench created! Why this is never taken suo motu cognizance by Supreme Court in last more than 50 years?
It must be asked: If this is not the outcome of a most diabolical, dangerous, discriminatory, derisive, dastardly and despicable discrimination then what else is it yet we did not hear even a whimper of protest not even from the Supreme Court which is considered the last bastion as a ray of hope for the litigants for such a long time! It is heart wrenching and most devastating to see how mercilessly Centre has deprived West UP from having even a single High Court Bench in last nearly 80 years! Why has Centre kept such a burning issue in the background for such a long time defies logic and is completely incomprehensible?
The need of the hour is: Centre must act on this Bench issue forthwith so that the litigants gain the most especially those who are most poor, deprived and underprivileged sections of society! There is definitely a stark disconnect between the need of the litigants of West UP for a High Court Bench as was even acknowledged by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself who recommended permanent Bench still 50 years later Centre has not demonstrated any political will to take any action in this regard! Silence of Centre on such a key issue is most deafening to see. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said famously that, “Silence is betrayal”!
In all fairness, Centre must stop betraying more than 10 crore people of West UP which can happen only by approving if not multiple at least a single Bench! Karnataka has just just about 6 crore population which means 4 crores less than West UP yet it has not just High Court but also multiple High Court Benches and two High Court Benches were created in one go by Centre in 2008 in Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts only but for 30 districts of West UP not approving even a single High Court Bench with more than 10 crores population! Even for Telangana with just 3 crore or 3.5 crores population Centre approved separate Statehood and separate High Court in 2014 by creating it as a separate State on June 2, 2014 but for West UP with more than 10 crores people not a single Bench most disgracefully and most disconcertingly is being approved by forwarding one lame excuse or the other which makes me hang my head in shame!
How ruthlessly Centre has crushed the most legitimate and most compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP is for all of us to see for ourselves! Why Centre finds itself in a conundrum on creating High Court Bench in West UP which is an “open and shut” case is most baffling indeed? Why Centre and UP State Government have never placed West UP on driver’s seat due to its huge contribution to State’s economy more than 75%, to put it mildly, cannot be ever forgiven or forgotten?
Why can’t Centre let the past bury its dead and shed off its status quo approach on creating more High Court Benches in most populated State of India with maximum pending cases that is UP which has just one Bench and that too so near to Allahabad at Lucknow and nowhere else? Why we see that so many leaders of ruling party BJP in Centre and in UP like Mr Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan have strongly batted for separate Statehood for West UP but Centre most damningly and most deplorably is just not ready to create even a single High Court Bench in West UP or even in any other part of UP? Why former PM late AB Vajpayee as Leader of Opposition in Parliament most forcefully demanded High Court Bench for West UP in Meerut in 1986?
More specifically, I wish to point out that it is West UP which should have both High Court and a Bench because majority of the pending cases are not from East UP but from West UP yet we see that it is East UP which has both High Court at Allahabad and a single Bench at Lucknow and nowhere else! How long will Centre keep on just bluffing, bulldozing and blaming others like Governor which it itself appoints for the denial of even a single High Court Bench in West UP which it so richly deserves yet has been denied most mercilessly? It is really very hard to comprehend why Centre is dilly-dallying on such a key legal issue since last 78 years of independence while not taking even an year to create a High Court Bench at Lucknow in July 1948 so near to Allahabad which already had High Court since last more than two and a half centuries! This is exactly what I find so baffling indeed!
It cannot and should not be ever lost on anyone that it is West UP which owes for maximum pending cases in any region of not only just UP but also in any other part of India which only serves to further necessitates the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP! Dr BR Ambedkar who is the key architect of Constitution favoured partition of UP into three parts – Western, Eastern and Central but Centre in last 78 years has completely crushed the hope for even a single High Court Bench of West UP which makes me hang my head in shame! West UP has 30 districts and so it must have at least 3 High Court Benches but Centre is just not ready to concede even a single Bench on one pretext or other which litigants, lawyers and people of West UP, quite naturally, find most infuriating!
How long will BJP led Centre keep saying that creation of High Court Bench is in pipeline or blame shamelessly Governor and extricate itself most easily as we saw recently saying that Centre has not problem with creation of High Court Bench in West UP and keep apportioning the share of blame on Governor appointed by Centre itself or on someone else for it? How terrible! How ruthless!
It merits just no reiteration that Centre’s complete inaction on this score has punctured its tall claims that it stands committed to equality and this is the most flagrant violation of Article 14 of our Constitution and yet even Supreme Court has never dared to speak out anything on it leaving everything on Centre alone as we saw in a PIL which was dismissed in November 2018 on crying need for a Bench in West UP which has done just nothing on it in last 78 years most ruthlessly even though it has taken suo motu cognizance on very petty issues in some other cases! Why we see many small States with far less population like Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal having multiple High Court Benches and most populated State of India with more than 26 crores population which is more than even the population of Pakistan and so many other countries has just one Bench even though Allahabad High Court is the biggest High Court in whole world with maximum members in Bar Council and still one Bench created 76 years ago and that too so close to Allahabad and nowhere else and attached litigants of West UP with not even Lucknow but have to travel further right uptill Allahabad to seek justice forcing litigants of West UP to travel like a donkey so far whole night and half day by train most atrociously which cannot be ever justified under any circumstances? It is the most insensitive thing on earth to not even acknowledge that West UP has been most wrongly deprived of a High Court Bench by Centre who gets elected by people and not some Governor who is not elected by people but just appointed by Centre itself! It cannot be lost on anyone that even incumbent UP CM Yogi Adityanath had recommended a High Court Bench in West UP in Meerut in January 2024 to Allahabad High Court in an official letter but withdrew it the very next day! This itself in my opinion is the best testimony that how compelling the case of West UP High Court Bench is and yet has been put in the shelf on one pretext or the other which I find most atrocious! Still let us yet fervently hope that Centre will wake up sooner or later!
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