“Peace is not the absence of war, peace is the presence of conditions that give dignity to all.”
– Leymah Gbowee
It is a matter of supreme irony that the most populated State of India that is Uttar Pradesh which tops the State list with maximum number of pending cases more than 12 lakhs as conceded by President of Allahabad High Court Bar Association – Mr Rakesh Pandey has just one High Court Bench at Lucknow so close to Allahabad in Eastern UP created 78 years ago in July 1948 and West UP which owes for majority of pending cases of Allahabad High Court has not even a single High Court Bench not even a Circuit Bench and not only just this but in addition has been attached with not even Lucknow which falls much earlier but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest betrayal of Constitution, deepest burial of justice and worst mockery of poorest litigants of 30 districts of West UP who have to travel whole night and nearly a day by train about 700 to 800 km on average most shockingly! From a legal standpoint, it is UP which tops the State list in having maximum number of pending cases and so also has maximum population more than 25 crores and here too it is West UP which owes for majority of pending cases of UP and still leave alone High Court or permanent seat of High Court Bench has not even a Circuit Bench as Centre is just not ready to concede most disgracefully! I often find myself battling with a moot question: Why is Centre so hell bent in denying West UP even a single Bench and thwarting all chances of creating even a Circuit Bench most spinelessly without any remorse or regret?
Even former eminent Supreme Court Judge – Justice (Retd) Markandey Katju who has been Chief Justice of different High Courts including Allahabad High Court has fully reiterated his open support to the most legitimate demand for a High Court Bench in West UP which is most refreshing to note! How long will this most pressing Bench issue in West UP be held hostage on one pretext or the other? How long will Centre be seen to be sitting on the fence on this most compelling issue?
By any reckoning, Centre needs to remove the albatross from around its neck of West UP cannot have a High Court Bench despite so deserving as was recommended also by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself who recommended a permanent seat of High Court Bench in West UP about 50 years ago yet not even a single High Court Circuit Bench created in last about 80 years of independence since 1947! How long will Centre feel the luxury to keep such a most pressing issue directly affecting the litigants of 30 districts of West UP in abeyance on one pretext or the other? How long will such a long lingering most pressing issue remain in limbo needlessly and pale into insignificance at the cost of litigants of West UP who suffer most especially those who are very poor?
Truly speaking, the prominent view is that Centre is fully culpable for depriving West UP from having even a single High Court Bench not even a Circuit Bench just like in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand! Centre needs to think hard and deep that why it has so irrationally deprived West UP from having even a single Bench? How long will Centre keep appeasing naysayers who most vehemently oppose the setting up of even a single Bench in West UP for serving their own vested interests? Denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP on flimsy grounds is patently ludicrous! When Centre can create in one go two High Court Benches for Karnataka in 2008 with just 6 crore people at Dharwad and Gulbnarga for just 4 and 8 districts then why for West UP with more than 10 crore people and 30 districts we see that it has not even a single High Court Bench nor even a Circuit Bench, to say the very least!
It is definitely most deeply anguishing to see that the lawyers of 22 districts of West UP out of total 30 districts with more than 10 crore people have been so unitedly agitating for a High Court Bench with full discipline since last about 80 years of independence and I myself have been personal witness to this most sacred agitation since last about 25 years in Meerut yet most disappointingly to no avail! As recently as on 20 September, 2025, the lawyers of West UP of 22 districts protested and held dharna and protested against the step-motherly treatment accorded to West UP and on December 17, 2025 there was complete shutdown in West UP in protest of denial of High Court Bench to West UP because once again Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Aurangabad, Nagpur and Panaji was given one more at Kolhapur which started functioning from August 18, 2025 for just 6 districts and population also very less but West UP with 30 districts and more than 10 crores people has not even a single Circuit Bench!
This is definitely most disgusting indeed and presents a most disturbing picture of the sorry state of affairs and “open slaughtering of justice and equality” yet Centre is not doing anything on this even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself about 50 years ago recommended permanent seat of High Court Bench in West UP at Agra yet not created till date anywhere in West UP and on its recommendation one High Court Bench had already been created at Aurangabad in 1980s itself for just about 7 districts then and so also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and so also at Madurai in Tamil Nadu! How long will lawyers and litigants of West UP keep demanding High Court Bench ad nauseam with nearly 80 years of independence having already flown under the bridge? It serves no one to sweep the embers of this needless row over most “open and shut” case of setting up of a High Court Bench in West UP under the carpet!
Constitutionally speaking, the denial of even a single Bench to West UP not even a Circuit Bench is biggest betrayal of Article 14 of Constitution which is fundamental right to equality and West UP whose population is more than nearly all States except UP of which it is a part, Bihar and Maharashtra and pending cases maximum in any region in India yet most atrociously has been deprived from having even a single Circuit Bench! The inescapable question that remains unanswered is: Why Centre has been needlessly prolonging this “open and shut” case of setting up of High Court Bench in West UP on one pretext or the other?
SS More who was a first-time member who stood against GV Mavalankar who is India’s first Speaker in 1952 Speaker elections ended his speech by reminding the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru that, “Democracy cannot be developed by developing a sort of partisan spirit – a fanatical partisan spirit – which is not proper according to the fundamental concepts of democracy…” This fanatical partisan spirit is exactly what we are witnessing in distribution of High Court Benches in different States and different regions with only five elite States – Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and West Bengal having multiple High Court Benches and Maharashtra having maximum number of High Court Benches! This despite the most irrefutable fact that the population of Maharashtra is more than half less of Uttar Pradesh and pending cases is less than not only just UP but even less than West UP which owes for majority of pending cases of UP and still West UP has not even a single Bench and Maharashtra has maximum number of High Court Benches! This is the real rub!
To put it gently, it would not be completely off the mark to say that it is West UP where High Court should now be shifted as the pendency of cases in Allahabad High Court continues to be staggeringly high putting an unprecedented strain on the judicial system and majority of pending cases are from West UP as was conceded by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission also! But what I find most deeply unsettling and so also most perplexing to note is that West UP has not even a High Court Bench nor even just a High Court Circuit Bench and still Supreme Court says nothing! When will it speak up? It must speak up now fearlessly in the interest of justice so that the poorest litigants of West UP stands to gain the most and don’t just keep on suffering endlessly with no end in sight for no fault of theirs!
By all accounts, there can be just no gainsaying that failure to act will not only just erode but also completely destroy public trust in the judiciary and the systemic bias against West UP that has already been exposed as we see openly that how despite owing for majority of the pending cases of Allahabad High Court and contributing again in majority to the State’s economy only to receive such a shabby step-motherly treatment by being denied most unfairly the right to “speedy and affordable justice at doorsteps for so long without any bona fide reason which culminates in justice being delayed and justice delayed is justice denied! It is high time and Supreme Court must definitely now take suo motu cognizance of it most promptly and stop keeping a deafening silence that affects billions of litigants so hugely with poorest litigants bearing the worst brunt! It will only provide relief to the litigants of West UP who are worst affected especially poor and will enhance the prestige of the top court itself!
In sum, the merciless, relentless and senseless denial of a High Court Bench to West UP is not merely a deviation from democratic values, it is also fundamentally antithetical to the constitutional values of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution and strikes at the moral fabric of our Republic. It also certainly runs counter to what is encapsulated in Preamble of the Constitution! Why is Centre so miserly on the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP?
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