“Within 15 days of swearing in, we will call meeting of Central High Court Bench Establishment Action Committee and by consensus chalk out strategy to make this High Court Bench movement more stronger and more effective. Within three months will meet PM to ensure that the High Court Bench is set up in West UP within an year. It is undeniable fact that the creation of High Court Bench in West UP will encourage youth who are lawyers to work more harder and their progress will be much more rapid.”
– Hon’ble Mr Narendra Sharma who apart from his many other priorities like ensuring the protection of advocates from harassment by police which he announced while focusing topmost on the long pending Bench issue in West UP while declaring his intention to contest for the prestigious post of President of Meerut Bar Association made sure that the setting up of High Court Bench in West UP would be his topmost priority!
Nothing on earth can give me so much happiness than this that in the forthcoming elections that are scheduled for Meerut Bar Association to take place shortly to elect new office bearers, the Chairman of High Court Bench Mission – Hon’ble Mr Narendra Sharma who is himself not only an eminent, learned, distinguished and senior lawyer of Meerut Bar Association with many decades of vast experience in diverse fields of laws but is also the Chairman of High Court Bench Mission that has played a big role in last many decades in popularizing the need of Bench among people in rural areas and other areas also has thrown his hat in the ring for the most prestigious post of President of Meerut Bar Association after his many supporters pressed him hard so that he could be in a better position to put across his point most forcefully by being the Chairman of 22 districts of West UP who all stand united under the banner of Central Action Committee termed in Hindi as Kendriya Sangharsh Samiti which was established many decades ago to relentlessly pursue the most sacred agitation for a High Court Bench in West UP after Centre did not create even a single High Court Bench in West UP even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself recommended a permanent seat of High Court Bench for West UP in undivided UP and two circuit Benches for hilly areas yet not created about 50 years ago when late Mrs Indira Gandhi was PM even though States like Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji was given one more at Aurangabad! This despite the irrefutable fact that it is UP which tops the State list in having maximum number of pending cases and in UP it is West UP which owes for majority of pending cases of UP as was acknowledged even by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission which is the highest not only in UP but even in any other region of India and has more than 10 crores population still has not even a single High Court Bench! How can anyone on this earth ever deny that none other than late Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated on December 25 across the nation had in 1986 most forcefully demanded the setting up of a High Court Bench in West UP right inside Parliament as Leader of Opposition? Even former PM Late Mr Rajiv Gandhi had wanted to set up a High Court Bench in West UP but as a rift had developed between Meerut and Agra as place where it should be set up, this most pressing issue was not addressed.
Even former PM Late Mr Chaudhary Charan Singh only regret in life was that he could not persuade Centre to create even a single High Court Bench in any nook and corner of Uttar Pradesh other than at Lucknow so close to Allahabad where it was just not needed at all and so also could not convince Centre to attach litigants of 30 districts of West UP and hilly areas of undivided UP with Lucknow which is still more than 230 km nearer than Allahabad but Centre till date has ensured the attachment right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice and so also biggest betrayal of Constitution and worst mockery of litigants especially poor who came from family of poor farmers of West UP and for whom Centre cared a damn! It must be noted that even former UP CM Late Sampoornanand way back in 1955 had recommended a High Court Bench in Meerut but the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru overruled him! Mayawati who is former UP CM had advocated for partition of UP and West UP to be created as a separate State just like Dr BR Ambedkar who wanted West UP to be created as a separate State! Still Centre has not given it even a single High Court Bench even though its population is more than the population of majority of States in India!
I just cannot decipher why Centre is so hell bent in denying West UP which owes for majority of pending cases even a single Bench even though former Union Minister Dr Satyapal Singh in PM Narendra Modi’s Cabinet and so also former Mumbai Police Commissioner had himself demanded in Parliament in September 2016 two High Court Benches for West UP at Meerut and Agra and another Union Minister Mr Sanjeev Baliyan had demanded separate Statehood and Mr Rajnath Singh who is Union Defence Minister has himself supported on many occasions the most legitimate and compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP! There can be just no gainsaying that denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP for nearly 80 long years is definitely an irredeemable shame for which Centre is hugely culpable and it cannot wash its hands off from it.
We cannot just afford to ever gloss over that Centre is not any Tom, Dick and Harry that it cannot take adequate steps to ensure the facilitation of a High Court Bench in West UP to save the litigants from the humongous task of travelling whole night and half day all the way not even till Lucknow which has Bench since July 1948 and which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad which averages 700 to 750 km from majority of the districts at every hearing of the concerned case to seek justice which in itself makes a complete mockery of justice and Constitution! Why has Centre thrown Bench issue in West UP out of the window since last more than 78 years while creating a Bench in Lucknow in Eastern UP in 1948 which already had High Court so nearby at Allahabad since centuries is for Centre to specify and explain?
Which person in his/her right senses or any political party believing in what the Constitution stands for about the very concept of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution ever try to justify the denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP knowing it fully well that it is West UP which owes for more than half of the total pending cases of Uttar Pradesh (as acknowledged even by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself) which is the most populated State of India with maximum number of pending cases among all the States in India and still has been mercilessly deprived from having even a single High Court Bench? Why only Eastern UP has been equipped with both High Court at Allahabad and a single High Court Bench in Lucknow so close to Allahabad and nowhere else and worst of all attached litigants of West UP with not even Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice? Denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP has well shred the modicum of civility that remains in Indian politics knowing fully well that West UP owes for majority of cases of UP for whom even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself recommended permanent High Court Bench in West UP yet not created but for States like Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji we saw how one more was created at Aurangabad in Maharashtra even though it is Maharashtra which tops the State List Ranking in Justice Index and UP and lawless Bihar figures very lower down and still Centre does not favour more High Court Benches in UP and even a single in West UP and Bihar! How long will affordable justice at doorsteps remain a pipe dream for more than 10 crores people of West UP?
It was Mr Kapil Sibal who as Union Law Minister had most commendably recommended creation of High Court Bench in West UP yet we saw that it was not implemented as the then Chief Minister Mr Akhilesh Yadav did not recommend the same! It is definitely as clear as broad day sunlight that which State needs more High Court Benches and which State does not need even a single High Court Bench! But the most unpalatable truth is that neither any Chief Justice of India nor any Prime Minister of India till date has ever bothered to take any initiative in this regard in last nearly 80 years of independence to do anything substantial to correct the most biggest Himalayan blunder committed in 1948 by creating only one High Court Bench for the most populated State of India with maximum number of pending cases that is Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow so near to Allahabad and nowhere else and worst of all attached litigants of 30 districts of West UP with not even Lucknow which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest betrayal of Constitution in India and justice as litigants of West UP have to travel whole night and half day averaging 700 to 800 km. Most unfortunate indeed!
We must be open about it. We can’t change the system unless we talk openly about it. There is no point in pushing this under the carpet. It is nothing but plain stupidity and sheer absurdity of the highest order that West UP owing for majority of the cases of UP has not even a single Bench and Eastern UP alone has both High Court and a single Bench so near to each other!
One is totally clueless on the rationale behind denying West UP even a single Bench inspite of owing for majority of pending cases of UP! Abolish all the high court benches in India if West UP cannot be given bench because West UP which owes for majority of pending cases not just in Uttar Pradesh but even in any other region of India and in any other State also and Centre till date has not created even a single other than the one so near to Allahabad at Lucknow in Eastern UP and worst of all attached 30 districts of West UP with not even Lucknow but with Allahabad which is 230 km away from even Lucknow due to which litigants of West UP have to travel 700 to 800 km on average all the way whole night and half day till Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest betrayal and biggest murder of Constitution and justice as it throttles the basic right of litigants of West UP to get “justice at doorsteps”! But no one in power in Centre really cares about it! This is the real rub!
In conclusion, the only solace is that in the elections in different Bars of West UP, we see that High Court Bench issue carries primary weightage and Hon’ble Mr Narendra Sharma who is contesting for the prestigious post of President of Meerut Bar Association this time which has always led from the front in most vocally raising this compelling issue has been most firm in declaring clearly that his “High Court Bench Mission” will not stop unless and until a High Court Bench is created in West UP! His winning elections is imperative! Voters must certainly elect him!
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