UP Lawyers intensify their demand for permanent bench in Western Uttar Pradesh

A group of lawyers, who have been supporting the demand for establishment of a permanent bench in Western Uttar Pradesh for a long time, has come out with a White Paper on establishment of a permanent bench of High Court in Western UP. The group is referred as “Lawyers for High Court Bench in Western Uttar Pradesh”..A group of lawyers, who have been supporting the demand for establishment of a permanent bench in Western Uttar Pradesh for a long time, has come out with a White Paper on establishment of a permanent bench of High Court in Western UP. The group is referred as “Lawyers for High Court Bench in Western Uttar Pradesh”..The White Paper lists out the reasons for the demand of establishment of a permanent bench in Western UP. Some of the reasons listed in the White Paper include high pendency of cases, decentralisation of Allahabad High Court due to heavy work load, some states have more than one bench even though pendency of cases is far lower than state of UP, denial of access of justice to the litigants of Western UP etc..The White Paper states: “The struggle of the people of Western Uttar Pradesh for a permanent bench of Allahabad High Court has been going on continuously since early 1950’s when Late Chief Minister Dr. Sampurnanda in 1955 recommended creation of a permanent bench in Western UP to the Central Government. .Bench is proposed for the five divisions that comprise Western Uttar Pradesh (i.e. Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, and Aligarh). .While the Constitution does not provide for any parameters to be considered for creation of permanent or circuit benches of High Courts, by convention and through reports of special committees several parameters have evolved since independence. Primary among such factors is the distance to the High Court. Justice Jaswant Singh Commission specifically recommended establishment of a bench in Western Uttar Pradesh in its report in 1985.”.To further intensify their demand, the group yesterday organized a meeting in the Arbitration Room of the Supreme Court to discuss the proposals for establishment of a bench in Western U.P..The group in its meeting resolved to call upon and urge the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Central Government, and the High Court of Allahabad to take necessary steps for establishment of a permanent bench of High Court in Western UP..It was also resolved that group will seek support of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Supreme Court Advocates- on-Record Association, the Bar Association of India and other Bar Associations..Bar & Bench also spoke to Supreme Court lawyer Ajit Sharma, who is all the Secretary of the group leading this cause. Ajit said, “We believe that the demand for a separate High Court bench, at any location in Western U.P., cannot be ignored anymore. The statistics and data published in the white paper clearly show that a separate bench is in the interest of litigants. Allahabad High Court must constitute a committee of judges to examine this issue as recommended by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission in 1985”.