“If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.”
– Bayard Rustin
It is most hugely unfortunate and so also most deeply shocking and is most gut wrenching to see that the lawyers who wanted to meet the PM Narendra Modi who was in Meerut for inauguration of Namo Bharat and Metro Service on February 22, 2026 and submit a memorandum for the creation of the most pressing and long lingering most legitimate demand for a High Court Bench in West UP were house arrested. This has to be most strongly condemned. We are a democratic country and not a dictatorship country! I have just no hesitation in saying that the “neeti and neeyat” (policy and intent) of Centre is most deeply problematic indeed!
What is completely undemocratic throwing all democratic norms to the wind is that even the incumbent President of Meerut Bar Association – Mr Sanjay Sharma who has been in the forefront always in demanding the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP and is the Chairman of Central Action Committee constituted by lawyers of 22 districts of West UP for this purpose many decades ago was also not spared and was house arrested and even his two younger brothers – Mr Rajeev Sharma and Mr Vasu Vats were house arrested by SHO Civil Lines and Police Administration. Even Mr Ravi Kant Bharadwaj who is former General Secretary of Meerut Bar Association and Mr Parth Bharadwaj who is an office bearer in Meerut Bar Association were also house arrested which is most deeply anguishing and I am not fully aware how many more have been arrested who were wanting to submit memorandum to PM Narendra Modi for creation of High Court Bench in West UP! This definitely tantamount to behaving just like colonial Britishers rather even worst than them and this definitely cannot be justified on any pretext whatsoever!
One fervently hopes that Hon’ble Mr Justice JB Pardiwala who is touted by some as the “most fearless judge” of Apex Court till date since independence speak out fearlessly as to why Uttar Pradesh which has maximum pending cases and maximum population has only one High Court Bench created 78 years ago at Lucknow so close to Allahabad and nowhere else even though Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself recommended permanent seat of High Court Bench in West UP at Agra about 50 years ago yet not even a Circuit Bench created till date and Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Bombay, Nagpur and Panaji was given one more at Aurangabad in 1980s as recommended by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission and now one more fifth High Court Bench created in Kolhapur for just 6 districts with 1.64 lakh people which started functioning from August 18, 2025 but for West UP with 30 districts and more than 10 crore people not even a single High Court Circuit Bench created till date! Can there be anything more discriminatory on earth than this? The moot question that crops up immediately in my mind on hearing this is: Why we see no democratic spirit in our country in the distribution of High Courts and High Court Benches and High Court Circuit Benches in different States and different regions in our country?
The most germane question to ask here is: Who is masterminding such blind, brutal, baseless and blatant discrimination perpetrated in distribution of High Court Benches in different States and different regions? Denial of even a single Bench to West UP signal a disturbing trend of prejudice, rampant discrimination based on region which definitely cannot be ever justified! How long will Centre unscrupulously bypass the most legitimate and most compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP in most casual manner on one pretext or the other! Distance of Meerut to Delhi High Court is about 70 km, to Gwalior Bench of MP High Court is 368 km, to Chandigarh High Court of Punjab and Haryana is 239 km, to Shimla High Court is 336 km, to Nainital High Court is 249 km, to Lahore High Court in Pakistan is 433 km but to Allahabad High Court is 705 km and from Saharanpur to Allahabad is more than 750 km which means whole night and a day by train wasted on just travelling alone!
It is absolutely most baffling rather gut wrenching to say more appropriately that both Supreme Court and Centre in last about 80 years of independence most inexplicably feel that Allahabad High Court which is biggest High Court in not only just India, in not only just Asia but also in whole world should have only one High Court bench so close to Allahabad at Lucknow and nowhere else which is the biggest national disgrace and lawless Bihar has not even a single High Court Bench nor Circuit Bench just like Orissa! Why only five elite States have multiple High Court Benches – MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Assam? Why West UP which ideally should have separate High Court and separate Statehood due to its huge population and pending cases owing for majority of pending cases of UP which is highest for any region in India has not even a High Court Bench nor even a Circuit Bench to say the very least for so long? Why is Supreme Court not taking suo motu cognizance of it? This key issue affects billions of litigants across so many States and regions which alone explains why 230th Report of Law Commission of India recommended creation of High Court Benches in different States yet after nearly 17 years gathering only dust!
One can say without a shred of doubt that Centre has been most partial in distribution of High Court Benches in different regions and different States without any compunctions whatsoever! It is not the democratic system that has failed the Indian people rather it is the elected leaders themselves who have failed the system most deliberately sinking to the lowest ebb by most brazenly and most spinelessly indulging in perpetrating egregious discrimination of the highest order in distribution of high court benches in different regions and different states without any prima facie reason behind such atrocious, arbitrary and arrogant discrimination which goes a long way in making a complete mockery of our democratic system as a whole and yet has gone largely unnoticed for nearly 80 long years with both Centre and Apex Court doing absolutely just nothing to set it right in anyway whatsoever! There can be just no gainsaying that equality is the heartbeat of a functional democracy and yet we see it is being openly slaughtered in case of distribution of High Court Benches in different States and different regions and so also in creation of new States with impunity without anyone being ever held accountable for it by anyone. Why even national media and press which is considered fourth pillar of Indian democracy never seriously deliberates nor debates on it which is happening right under their nose and keeps maintaining an unexplained deafening silence on it?
It is most shocking that UP which is among the largest States, has maximum population – more than 26 crore as CM Yogi Adityanath and so also PM Narendra Modi always so very proudly claims which means more than even Pakistan at 25 crores, maximum districts – 76, maximum constituencies – 80, maximum MPs – 80, maximum MLAs – 404, maximum PM including Narendra Modi who represents Varanasi as an MP, maximum pending cases – more than 11 lakh in Allahabad High Court and here too West UP accounts for more than half of pending cases as noted by Justice Jaswant Commission about 57% and now after so many decades the percentage of pending cases in West UP has gone substantially much higher with Dr Laxmi Kant Vajpayee who is Rajya Sabha MP while demanding two High Court Benches in Parliament for West UP at Meerut and Agra pointing out that West UP owes for 63 percent of pending cases of UP and so also demanded two High Court Benches at Gorakhpur and Varanasi, maximum cases in lower courts about to touch 1 crore, maximum Judges both in High Court – 160 and also in lower courts, maximum vacancies of Judges both in High Court and also in lower courts, maximum members in UP Bar Council more than 3 lakh and which is also the largest Bar Council in the world as claimed in the website itself of UP Bar Council yet the former Chairman of UP Bar Council – Darvesh Yadav who was the first woman to get appointed to this post was murdered cold blooded right in court premises in Agra which is again in West UP on June 12, 2019 by pumping bullets on her head and stomach, maximum poverty, maximum villages more than one lakh the exact number being 107040, maximum gram panchayats at 74626, maximum fake encounters killings, maximum official encounters more than 15,000 from 2017 till date and here too it is West UP where maximum incidents happen and maximum crime, maximum custody killings, maximum dowry cases, maximum bride burning cases, maximum cases of human rights violations, maximum robberies, maximum dacoities, maximum cases of crime, loot, arson and riots and here too West UP tops with Saharanpur riots, Meerut riots, Muzaffarnagar riots tarnishing our international reputation to the extent that former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon termed UP as “crime and rape capital” of India and just recently we see after Bahraich even Fatehpur and now most recently even Bareilly in West UP coming in news for shameless communal disturbances most recently, maximum undertrials in all age groups and what not yet Centre till now in February 2026 from July 1948 when a Bench was created in Lucknow which is so close to Allahabad and where it was just not needed at all is not prepared to create even a single bench for not just West UP but for the entire UP nor even ready to attach 30 districts of West UP with more than 10 crore population which is more than majority of States with Lucknow! Not only just this, Uttar Pradesh has maximum number of airports – 21 and maximum international airports – 5 at Lucknow, Kushinagar, Ayodhya, Varanasi and latest Noida in West UP which perhaps will be biggest but still only one High Court Bench at Lucknow so close to Allahabad High Court created 78 years ago and litigants of West UP attached with not even Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad most stupidly! For foreigners maximum facility of maximum airports in Uttar Pradesh but for litigants of West UP, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, not even a single High Court Bench by which Indians will gain most and not foreigners! How can Centre ever deny, distort or dispute such most irrefutable facts? One really just cannot decipher that what is Centre achieving by depriving West UP from having even a single Bench?
What exacerbates matters is Centre stonewalling any attempt to create a Bench in West UP or any other part of UP except Eastern UP which has both High Court at Allahabad and Bench in Lucknow! This despite the most irrefutable truth that West UP owes for majority of pending cases of UP with more than 10 crore people and 30 districts and still has not even a single Bench not even a Circuit Bench after nearly 80 years of independence! One can say without a shred of doubt that Centre has been most partial in distribution of High Courts and High Court Benches in different regions and different States without any prima facie reason to justify it! How long will Centre remain pregnant on possibility of the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP like we keep hearing Union Law Minister Mr Arjun Ram Meghwal saying time and again that Meerut in West UP is among top ten places where Centre is contemplating to set up a High Court Bench but till date has done nothing to ensure that pregnancy is not aborted as has been the past track record till now? How quickly fifth High Court Bench set up in Maharashtra in Kolhapur set up on August 18, 2025 for just 6 districts is known all too well on which Union Law Minister said nothing earlier without any recommendation from any high powered Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge as in the case of West UP and still most undemocratically West UP has been deprived from having even a single Bench!
UP would never have been partitioned in November 2000 if Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court or Chief Justice of India had taken suo motu cognizance of open dacoity in implementation of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission Report headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself who recommended maximum three High Court Benches for undivided UP and yet not one created and Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches in Nagpur and Panaji was given straightaway one more at Aurangabad for just 7 districts then as recommended even though Maharashtra already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji just like for Jalpaiguri in West Bengal for 5 districts which already had High Court Bench in Port Blair and so also at Madurai in Tamil Nadu even though population of Tamil Nadu is far less than even West UP! Two High Court Circuit Benches recommended by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission for hilly areas of undivided UP yet not one created which culminated in resentment brewing further and in partition of undivided UP 25 years ago and one permanent seat of High Court Bench was also recommended for West UP in Agra yet not created even after nearly 50 years!
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 Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Panaji was given one more fifth at Kolhapur for just 6 districts which started functioning from Aug 18, 2025 and population also very less but West UP with 30 districts and more than 10 crores people has not even a single High Court Circuit Bench! The population of UP is more than twice of Maharashtra and so also UP tops State list in having maximum number of pending cases and West UP owes for majority of pending cases of UP which is highest in not just UP but in any region and State of India yet not even a Circuit Bench! Is this is what is democracy and is this not a most blatant violation of Article 14 of Constitution? This is definitely most pathetic state of affairs 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 and worst of all even Allahabad High Court and Apex Court are also most perplexingly since last about 80 years maintaining a deafening and chilling inexplicable silence on it! Most disgusting indeed!
Leave alone creating two High Court Benches in Uttar Pradesh as in Karnataka with just 6 crore population as compared to West UP with more than 10 crore and UP with more than 26 crore in 2008 first as High Court Circuit Benches and then in 2013 as permanent High Court Benches for just four and eight districts only at Gulbarga and Dharwad respectively, Centre for 30 districts has most appallingly kicked out the most strongest recommendation that had been made by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission headed by a former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself for creation of High Court Bench in West UP at Agra in mid 1980s and so also two High Court Circuit Benches in Dehradun and Nainital in undivided UP most shamelessly which culminated in partition of UP 25 years ago in November 2000 while having just no compunction to create High Court Bench in Aurangabad in Maharashtra for just 9 districts which already had multiple High Court Benches in Nagpur for just 10 districts and at Panaji for just 2 districts! As if this was not enough, we see most recently fifth High Court Bench in Maharashtra at Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra has started functioning from 18.08.2025 for just 6 districts with shockingly only just 1.64 crore people! What is happening in our country? If this is not biggest cheating by Centre in Indian history then what else is?
In 2014, we saw how Telangana with just 3.5 crore people given separate Statehood itself on June 2, 2014 and so also separate High Court at Hyderabad and separate capital and Andhra Pradesh with population of just 4 crores also given separate High Court at Amaravati after partition in 2014 and a High Court Bench also approved by State Assembly at Kurnool and another at Visakhapatnam is under active consideration! The most serious question that has bubbled up to the fore is: Why has Centre so unscrupulously denied West UP with more than 10 crore people even a single High Court Circuit Bench which deserves separate High Court as recommended by Dr BR Ambedkar who is key architect of Constitution and so also Mayawati when she was UP CM among others by creating West UP as a separate State? Why Centre is caring a damn for West UP, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand all in UP and so also not even a single in lawless Bihar?
In any case, it has now definitely warmed the innermost cockles of my heart and mind to read that none other than one of the most eminent former Supreme Court Judge Hon’ble Mr Justice Markandey Katju who has himself practiced in Allahabad High Court from 1970 to 1991 with specialization in Taxation, Labour Laws and Writ Petition and is one of the most distinguished jurists that India has ever produced known all across the globe and was also appointed Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in August 2004 and so also was Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004 and also of Delhi High Court in October 2005 has in a eye-opener blog titled: “The Demand For A Western Bench Of Allahabad HC Is Justified” published on September 24, 2025 in website named “Medium” written that, “While I do not approve of blocking roads, I believe that the demand for a bench of the Allahabad High Court in western Uttar Pradesh is fully justified. The reason is simple: litigants of western UP face a huge financial and logistical burden when they are compelled to travel all the way to Allahabad, which is in eastern UP. The Justice Jaswant Singh Committee, after studying the matter in great detail, came to the same conclusion. There are several benches of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the Bombay High Court. Similarly, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, which was created in July 2004 when I was Chief Justice of that court, was established for the very same reason: litigants in southern Tamil Nadu found it prohibitively expensive and inconvenient to travel to Chennai in the north. On exactly the same logic, there is no reason why western UP should be denied a bench of the Allahabad High Court.” Still most appallingly, we see that neither Centre nor Supreme Court which is the last ray of hope for the people is willing to do anything in this regard till now! This is the real rub! One fervently still hope that some action will be taken by either Centre or Apex Court in this regard even as 100 years of independence is standing at our doorsteps!
Why this High Court Bench issue in West UP has most mysteriously remained in limbo for so long? Why can’t Centre bury the hatchet and move forward to balance the regional imbalance of Eastern UP having both High Court at Allahabad and a single Bench at Lucknow so close to each other and West UP inspite of owing for majority of pending cases of UP for whom Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommended permanent seat of High Court Bench yet even after nearly 50 years not even a Bench created nor even a Circuit Bench created! What I find most deeply unsettling is that even now we see that neither the Supreme Court nor Centre is ready to open its eyes and take most concrete action to dismember the most historical, Himalayan blunder committed about 80 years ago! Denying West UP and Bihar even a single High Court Bench is not just illogical but also deeply insensitive, deeply flawed and most deeply discriminatory also that has gone unnoticed, unchecked and unaddressed for so long!
To sum up, Centre has definitely not crowned itself with glory by doing absolutely just nothing tangible on this front since last nearly 80 years of independence! This is a stark reminder of how much Centre really cares for equality as enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution! Despite all the gloom and doom over Centre’s complete inexplicable inaction in doing anything worthwhile to accelerate the process of paving the way for creation of a High Court Bench in West UP and other needy places, I still see a ‘flicker of hope’ in Apex Court which is the ‘biggest custodian” to protect what is enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution as a fundamental right! It is most appalling to see Centre’s mindset is deeply embedded in the divisive belief that only Eastern UP alone is fit to have both High Court and Bench and only five States are suitable to have multiple High Court Benches and to top it all, this is never debated in news channels and newspapers widely or even briefly! This is the real rub! No denying it!
Sanjeev Sirohi