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A High Court Bench For West UP In Meerut Is Imperative
Let me begin at the very beginning by pointing out that a high court bench for West UP in Meerut is the crying need of the hour. This alone explains why it was way back in 1955 that Dr Sampoornanand who was the then UP Chief Minister had very strongly supported the legitimate demand for a high court bench for West UP in Meerut after about 100 delegates from West UP including elected representatives met him and apprised him of the dire need to do so! He too wasted no time in recommending the same to the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru who refused to support it for reasons known best to him alone.
What really baffles me most to see is that why when Nehruji could approve the demand for a high court bench in Lucknow which is just about 200 km away from Allahabad where high court itself is located and that too way back in 1948 on July 1 then why no high court bench in West UP at Meerut which is more than 700 km away from Allahabad in 2018 after more than seventy years? Why is Meerut’s historical significance blithely ignored by the Centre? Why no bench of high court has been set up in Meerut till now?
It is this complete brazen disregard of Meerut that the whole city observed token hunger strike for 2 hours on 28 April from 12 to 2 pm with people from different groups all unitedly demanding the creation of a high court bench in West UP at Meerut. Why Centre conveniently ignores that Meerut is the closest big location for all the 26 districts of West UP? Why Centre conveniently ignores that even when Uttarakhand formed part of UP even they too had supported the demand for a high court bench in Meerut?
Why Centre conveniently ignores that Kapil Sibal who was Union Law Minister in UPA regime had recommended for a high court bench in West UP at Meerut but the then UP CM Akhilesh Yadav too had flatly refused as was reported by the media then? Why Centre conveniently ignores that it is Meerut who has been in the centre-stage in leading the agitation for a high court bench in West UP and all the 26 districts except Agra have rallied behind it for the same? Why Centre conveniently ignores that Meerut is one of the most best suited district for the creation of a high court bench for West UP?
Why Centre ignores that it was under the leadership of lawyers of Meerut that a 6 months strike was implemented in 2001, three months strike in 2014-15 and one month strike in 2010 and similarly many other strikes on different days in a week? Why Centre ignores that it was under the leadership of lawyers of Meerut that the lawyers of 26 districts united under one banner to declare every Saturday as a “strike and no work day” in protest against West UP not being given a single high court bench? Why Centre ignores that this strike on every Saturday has been going on relentlessly since May 1981 till now in May 2018 in which the lawyers of Meerut have played the most key role?
Why Centre ignores that the lawyers of 18 districts of West UP fully support the selection of Meerut as the ideal place for setting up a high court bench in West UP? Why Centre ignores that the lawyers of Meerut have been in the forefront in organizing rallies, meetings, bandh calls etc demanding the creation of a high court bench in West UP at Meerut? Why Centre ignores that Meerut is best connected by rail and road route from all the districts of West UP and is the nearest location as compared to other places?
Why Centre ignores that Meerut accounts for maximum cases in high court about 4.5 lakh and so setting up a high court bench here would best serve the interests of the lawyers of 26 districts of West UP? Why for 26 districts of West UP a high court bench cannot be set up in Meerut when for just 12 districts a high court bench can be set up at Lucknow and similarly for just 4 and 8 districts a high court bench each can be set up at Dharwad and Gulbarga in Karnataka which already had a bench at Hubli?
Why for just 2 districts of Goa – North and South Goa, a high court bench can be created in Panaji but for 26 districts of West UP a high court bench cannot be created in Meerut? Similarly why for just 6 districts in Maharashtra which already had 3 benches at Aurangabad, Nagpur and Panaji a high court bench fourth in number can be created at Kolhapur but not a single in Meerut for 26 districts? Why is it ignored that the population of West UP which is more than 9 crore is more than any other state except Maharashtra, Bihar and UP of which it itself forms a part and here too the area of West UP with 98,000 square km is more than that of Bihar with 94,000 square km still it has not even a single bench at Meerut whereas other states have high court itself and benches also? Why this glaring disparity?
Why is it ignored that West UP accounts for more than half of pending cases in UP and setting up a bench in Meerut will benefit all the 26 districts of West UP as it is the most central location which can be easily accessed? Why is Centre taking no steps to create a high court bench in West UP at Meerut even when its own BJP national President Amit Shah had himself assured the lawyers of Meerut that they would hear the good news regarding the creation of a bench soon and many other BJP MPs like Sanjeev Baliyan, Dr Mahesh Sharma, Dr Satpal Singh who is now Union Minister and MP from Baghpat and many others have all supported the creation of a high court bench in Meerut at some point of time or the other? Centre must act now!
