Allahabad HC Bar Association : Demand for creation of bench

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association (HCBA) has rejected the demand for a separate bench of the Allahabad High Court in western UP.

‘ Constitution does not provide more than one High Court in a state as mandated under Article 214 (2), instead it provides one High Court for several states as is in case of Assam, Punjab and Haryana,’ claimed Allahabad High Court Bar Association President Vinay Chandra Mishra here today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Mishra criticised the Central government on the statement of Union Minister Sachin Pilot.

Mr Pilot had said the Centre has ready to set up a bench of High Court in western UP, if State government sends a proposal.

Former chairman of Bar Council of India Mr Mishra said after a long dispute of setting up a bench of High Court in other parts of the State, Bar Council of UP passed a resolution on date April 11, 1981 saying, ‘ The meeting of Bar council UP resolves that there shall be one High Court in each state and no benches be formed anywhere in the state and High Court may situated at any place in the state and appeals to the government of India to solve the dispute in Uttar Pradesh accordingly’.

Mr Mishra said statement of Mr Pilot was ‘politically motivated’ and it was a conspiracy hatched by the Centre.

‘This is a constitutional issue but the Central government is trying to make it political. If we look into the demands for benches in the western region of UP, we find that former Prime Ministers Morarji Desai and Charan Singh unceremoniously dismissed the idea of setting up the benches. Not only this, former Prime Minister Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shashtri and Smt Indira Gandhi decried the creation of bench of Allahabad High Court in western region, so that the flames of regionalism treating to scorch first to edifice the judiciary and then UP itself,’ added Mr Mishra.

To a question, he said setting up the Lucknow bench was a historical decision and it could not be taken as an example.

Mr Mishra said the HCBA would demonstrate against the Central government on August 17 in front of the High Court and all the advocates would boycott their work.