At the very outset, let me begin by first and foremost pointing out that it is strictly ensured in all the 26 districts of West UP every Saturday that no lawyer does any work in protest against Centre not setting up even a single bench of high court in any of the 26 districts of West UP even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Jaswant Singh and appointed by former PM late Mrs Indira Gandhi had recommended the setting up of 3 benches at Dehradun, Nainital and Agra. More intriguingly, on its recommendations benches were set up at Aurangabad on its recommendations as also at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Madurai in Tamil Nadu! To protest this third rated treatment meted out to West UP, it was decided to observe strike every Saturday henceforth!
Needless to say, this has been happening regularly since May 1981. It has been more than 36 years and even now it is very strictly ensured by the office bearers of every Bar in West UP that no lawyer undertakes any work on this day! Tomorrow that is November 18 is again Saturday and so lawyers of West UP will once again be on strike. No work and just chanting of slogans demanding creation of high court bench in West UP! Interestingly enough, most of the lawyers themselves voluntarily join the protest strikes and keep shouting slogans demanding high court bench in West UP! It is most shocking that West UP with more than 9 crore population and so many districts numbering about 26 have not been considered fit enough to be given a bench and even Justice Jaswant Commission recommendations on it have been disregarded.
Let me hasten to add here that the lawyers of West UP are fully determined that this shall continue uninterrupted till a high court bench is set up in West UP! Not just this, many times in last few years it has been noticed that lawyers even announce strike on Wednesday even though it is not as strictly as the one on Saturday and it happens on few occasions when it is decided by the Central Action Committee constituted to pursue the sacred demand for setting up a high court bench in West UP!
To put things in perspective, it was way back in 2001 that the lawyers of West UP went on strike demanding high court bench not for one month or for two months or for three months or for four months or for five months or for six months but for more than six months and finally broke the strike after getting assurances from Centre of looking seriously into it. Yet nothing happened. Only the striking lawyers of West UP know for themselves that how they stayed hungry with no work agitating wholeheartedly for a high court bench yet got nothing! Former UP CM Dr Sampoornanand had recommended a high court bench at Meerut in 1955 but Centre refused! Another former UP CM Mayawati had even recommended West UP to be created as a separate state to be named ‘Harit Pradesh’ but again nothing happened! Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had himself raised the demand of setting up a high court bench in West UP right inside Parliament way back in 1986 but as PM could not do much because he was not in full majority!
But what about the present PM Narendra Modi? He currently enjoys brute majority. BJP President Amit Shah had himself assured lawyers of West UP more than a year back that a high court bench would be soon set up in West UP. Even Rajnath Singh who is Union home Minister had given similar categorical assurances but to no avail! Just recently Dr Satyapal Singh who has been made Union Minister too vocally said recently that high court benches must be set up at Meerut, Agra and Gorakhpur. Apart from him there are many other Union Ministers who have all time and again raised their voice in support of the age old demand for a high court bench in West UP!
Let me be direct in asking: Why Allahabad High Court which last year completed 150 years of existence and which is Asia’s biggest court has just one high court bench and that too just 150-200 km away from Allahabad at Lucknow created way back in 1948 and why even as 2018 is about to start do we have no bench either in West UP or in Bundelkhand or at Gorakhpur from where UP CM Yogi Adityanath hails and who himself demanded a bench as MP way back in 1998? Why many other capitals like Bhopal which is capital of MP, Bhubaneshwar which is capital of Odisha, Thiruvananthapuram which is capital of Kerala, Dehradun which is capital of Odisha and many others have neither high court nor bench but Lucknow was chosen for bench despite being so close to Allahabad and that too way back in 1948 and the deserving areas like the hilly areas which now for Uttarakhand and from where people had to travel more than 1000 km had no bench and same is the case with 26 districts of West UP as also with Bundelkhand and Gorakhpur? Why states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam etc which stand nowhere in terms of number of pending cases and crime as compared to UP and West UP have 3 high court benches apart from high court itself?
Simply put, it is West UP where maximum riots, maximum killings, maximum crime take place yet it has no bench as both high court at Allahabad and a single bench at Lucknow created way back in 1948 are both in Eastern UP and that too just about 150-200 km away from each other! Why 8 other high courts and their benches and even Lahore High Court is nearer to West UP still no bench here? It is poor people who face problem of travelling without reservation for full night, staying there, hiring lawyer just because West UP’s 26 districts have no bench!
Briefly stated, in 2014-15 the lawyers of West UP went on strike for 3-4 months demanding high court bench in West UP and even boycotted Lok Adalats and demonstrated outside courts throughout the night! Why can’t a high court bench be set up in West UP? Why this raw discrimination? Why people of West UP are compelled to travel so far about 700-800 km away all the way to Allahabad to attend court hearings and waste so much of time and money for no valid reason! It is to protest this that lawyers of West UP keep holding meetings, demonstrations, protests, padyatras, brave lathicharge as happened on October 14 but still Centre is not budging!
Can anyone tell me: Why for just 4 and 8 districts of Karnataka at Dharwad and Gulbarga 2 more high court benches were straightaway approved in 2012 with one being already at Hubli but for West UP for 26 districts which is more than double the number for which 2 more benches were approved in Karnataka not even a single bench was approved even though the senior lawyers of West UP were repeatedly assured by all PM ranging from late Mrs Indira Gandhi, late Rajiv Gandhi among others? Karnataka has not more than 2 lakh pending cases and has just about more than 1 lakh pending cases yet 3 high court benches but for UP which has more than 10 lakh cases pending and here too more than half the cases are from West UP still no high court bench! Why?
As if this is not enough, even former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon had slammed UP as “rape and crime capital of India” still why UP has least high court benches and West UP has none? Why Allahabad High Court is the oldest high court in whole of Asia completing 150 years last year and also the biggest court yet it has just one high court bench very near to Allahabad in Lucknow? Why when a high court bench could be set up so near to Allahabad in Lucknow way back in 1948 can no high court bench be set up in West UP for more than 9 crore people staying here 70 years later in 2018?
Truth be told, the population of West UP is more than all States except UP itself of which it is a part, Maharashtra and Bihar and here too areawise West UP with 98,000 square km is more than Bihar’s 94,000 square km! Still why it has no bench leave alone making it a separate state and giving it a high court itself as happened with Uttaranchal which at time of creation had just 88 lakh population and about 12 to 13 districts?
Let me also be direct in asking: How long will lawyers of West UP keep striking every Saturday? How long will lawyers of West UP keep holding meetings, calling for West UP Bandh, holding protests on national highways, blocking rail route, roads etc just to highlight their age old demand of setting up a high court bench in West UP?
How long will woman keep getting gangraped as happened just recently in Muzaffarnagar in West UP and keep going so far to Allahabad to get justice as there is no bench of high court in West UP which is a much bigger punishment for them? How long will leaders like BJP leader Shiv Kumar Yadav who was shot dead just recently along with his bodyguard in Greater Noida in West UP not attract any voice from national media to create a bench here?
