Nothing on earth can ever be more unfortunate than this irrefutable fact that even as India has gone way ahead of celebrating its 78th “National Independence Day” yet we see lamentably that the State of Uttar Pradesh which has maximum population more than 26 crores which CM and PM keeps reiterating and so also has maximum MPs both in Lok Sabha and in Rajya Sabha and so also has maximum MLAs among all the States and so also has maximum villages more than one lakh and so also has maximum number of pending cases in High Court more than 10 lakh cases and here too majority of the pending cases are from West UP which is highest not just in UP but in any region of India and so also has maximum pending cases in lower courts about to touch nearly one crore and here too majority from West UP and so also has maximum number of Judges in all courts both in lower and in High Courts and has maximum members in State Bar Council that is the maximum in the world and still has just one High Court Bench and that too so close to Allahabad at Lucknow established in 1948 more than 76 years ago where it was just not needed at all as it is so close to Allahabad in Eastern UP and nowhere else! Worst of all, the litigants of West UP were not attached with even Lucknow which falls 230 km earlier but right uptill Allahabad to seek justice which in itself is the biggest injustice as the poor, deprived and marginalized class who cannot afford to travel by plane have to go by train and whole night and half day is wasted on just travelling alone which makes practically just no sense at all! It is certainly completely preposterous to deny West UP from having even a single High Court Bench!
Looking back, one wonders why even Apex Court has never taken suo motu cognizance of it? Why Centre which gets people’s mandate has never bothered to raise this long pressing and long pending most serious issue that lies unattended and unaddressed for so long? Why such a pressing issue flew under the radar for so many decades from Centre’s priority list raises many troubling questions and defies logic?
On a more serious note, I must ask: Why Centre is acting like a bystander that didn’t do anything at all to address this most pressing issue and even now after 78 years doesn’t adequately respond to resolve this High Court Bench issue in West UP once and for all? Just to tell you, it is not Maharashtra which has multiple High Court Benches just like Madhya Pradesh which has just 7 crore population which means 3 crores less than West UP at 10 crores, Karnataka just 6 crores which means 4 crores less than West UP at 10 crores and so also Assam whose population is very less just 4 crores which means 6 crores less than West UP at 10 crores and still have multiple High Court Benches just like West Bengal and UP with more than 26 crores has just one Bench and lawless Bihar with more than 15 crores population just like West UP has not even a Bench but at least Bihar has High Court! It remains a pill stuck in our throat – we need to swallow or spit it out!
No doubt, it is as clear as broad daylight that which State needs more High Court Benches and which region needs Benches yet Centre has miserably failed in addressing the huge imbalances in creation of High Court and Benches in different regions and different States! I just fail to comprehend that why so many smaller States like Karnataka whose population is about 4 crore less than West UP at 6 crore whereas West UP alone has 10 crores population yet we see two High Court Bench created in one go by Centre in 2008 at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts only but not a single for 30 districts of West UP with population of more than 10 crores for which even Justice Jaswant Singh Commission appointed by Centre itself headed by a former Supreme Court Judge about 50 years ago recommended a permanent Main High Court Bench For West UP but yet not created and Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji was given one more as recommended at Aurangabad just like for 5 districts of West Bengal at Jalpaiguri which already had Bench at Port Blair and so also for Tamil Nadu at Madurai but for undivided UP for which maximum 3 Benches were recommended not even a single Bench was most mercilessly allowed to come up in any part of UP! These bone chilling most unpalatable facts just cannot be swept beneath the carpet any longer and only reflects the raw, rotten and ruthless discrimination perpetrated shamelessly by Centre on North States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan from which it cannot extricate itself by blaming someone else for it most spinelessly!
It has been more than 15 years since the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India was submitted prepared under the Chairmanship of eminent former Supreme Court Judge Dr AR Lakshmanan but still it has not been most unfortunately implemented in big States like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan. 10 crores population of West UP yet Centre is not approving even a single Bench but for just 3 or 3.5 crore population of Telangana, Centre had just no compunction at all to most promptly approve Statehood not in 2024 but more than 10 years ago on June 2, 2014 itself which is the biggest proof of how Centre discriminates most ruthlessly between North States and South States! The total population of Andhra Pradesh at 4 crores and Telangana at 3 crores is 3 crores less than West UP at 10 crores and still not even a Bench is being approved by most shamelessly forwarding one pretext or the other like Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that Centre has no problem with Bench in West UP but sanction of Governor needed knowing fully well that it is Centre which itself appoints Governor and how can the litigants of West UP be made to suffer immeasurably just by citing such lame excuses knowing fully well that even UP State Government in January 2024 had recommended High Court Bench in West UP to Allahabad High Court but most astonishingly withdrew the recommendations the very next day! Why didn’t Centre intervene?
My key takeaway from Centre’s stand is that it is just not at all serious in addressing this long pending issue which must definitely be addressed at the earliest as it brooks no more delay any longer! It is not just undesirable but most atrocious and tendentious on the part of Centre to have ensured for 78 long years after independence that not a single Bench is set up in West UP as demanded by even former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Parliament in 1986 as Leader of Opposition notwithstanding the irrefutable fact that it is West UP which owes for majority of pending cases of UP and still both High Court at Allahabad and a single Bench at Lucknow are both in Eastern UP so near to each other! Worst of all, litigants of West UP attached with not even Lucknow but more than 230 km far away at Allahabad due to which litigants have to travel about 700 to 800 km on average which is nothing but a “theatre of the absurd” yet going on with impunity since last 78 years with both Centre and Apex Court acting like a helpless, hopeless and hapless spectator not knowing what to do! It is manifestly clear that there is more to it than meets the eye!
This was the real reason why the people of hilly regions of undivided UP agitated for separate Statehood as the litigants had to travel most horrendously thousands of kilometers all the way again till Allahabad like slaves and ultimately Uttarakhand was created in 2000 and for which not one Bench was conceded then for the same Nainital we saw Centre conceding a separate High Court in November 2000! The billion dollar question is: Is this is what Centre wants to happen in UP also? By the way, Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan who is Union Minister recently in a Jat Summit in Meerut promised separate High Court and separate Statehood! What is Centre upto? Does it want huge agitations for separate Statehood in West UP? Can’t it approve even a single Bench for West UP? It must clarify!
Let us not forget that the former President of Supreme Court Bar Association Krishna Mani had very categorically stated that, “Only by the creation of a bench of HC in West UP will the people be able to secure justice.” Even former Attorney General of India Soli J Sorabjee had said in 2001 that, “Centre is fully empowered to create a High Court Bench in West UP without any recommendations from Governor or Chief Justice.” As per Section 51 of the States Re-organization Act of 1956, Centre can definitely create a High Court Bench in any of these 3 states – UP, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir directly by bringing it up in Parliament yet we see just no action by Centre in these 3 states whereas in other States Benches are created so easily many decades ago! This only serves to project Centre in a very poor spotlight who is just not willing to discharge its duty even after Apex Court and the then CJI Mr Ranjan Gogoi in November 2018 himself while dismissing a PIL on High Court Bench in West UP clearly specifying in Supreme Court that the demand for Bench was “legitimate and compelling” but it was for “Centre” to take the final call! How can Centre even now deny this?
Sanjeev Sirohi is an Advocate
