Sign of BJP setback? Yogi 'fails' to ensure separate High Court bench for western UP

By Sanjeev Sirohi*
BJP appears on have made it clear that in its five year rule it is deadly opposed to the creation of a new High Court bench in western Uttar Pradesh. Today, the Allahabad High Court has just one bench -- in Lucknow, created by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on July 1, 1948. Incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath had thundered for a High Court Bench for Gorakhpur way back in 1999 while representing it as MP inside Parliament, but as CM he could not ensure High Court Bench even for Gorakhpur, leave alone West UP, or Bundelkhand, or any other needy region in UP.
He has been unable to have his way, as the Centre stands supreme on this and this is tilting the perception battle heavily against BJP. Earlier senior Union Cabinet leader Defence Minister Rajnath Singh used to openly say that if BJP wins in Centre and in UP, a High Court Bench in West UP will be created. But BJP reneged on its tall promise -- just like Atal Bihari Vajpayee demanded High Court Bench for West UP inside Parliament in 1986 but reneged when he came to power.
Meanwhile, Jayant Chaudhary, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader, announced recently that if his party came to power he would create three High Court Benches in UP – one in West UP, one in Bundelkhand and a third one at Ghazipur. This has started showing its impact on the ground. He knows: Lucknow is so close to Allahabad, where the High Court is located.
Former PM Indira Gandhi appointed a commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Jaswant Singh, who was also the former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, to look into where all High Court Benches should be created. It recommended three High Court Benches for undivided UP – one at Agra and two circuit benches at Nainital and Dehradun.
Thereafter, the Centre created a High Court Bench at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which already had two High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji, and so also a at Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal! Meanwhile, the people of hilly areas had to travel all the way more than a thousand kilometres to Allahabad as all the districts were attached with Allahabad and not with Lucknow, which was still closer even though not so close.
Today, high courts and benches of eight states, and even Lahore High Court in Pakistan, are nearer to West UP as compared to Allahabad. The lawyers of West UP were compelled to go on strike for six months from July to December 2001 demanding the creation of a High Court bench in West UP, yet no was action taken. Similar strikes also took place in 2009 and 2010. In 2014-15 the lawyers of West UP went on strike for up to four months and even boycotted Lok Adalats and protested whole night outside the court but again the Centre just gave empty assurances but nothing materialized on ground. The saga of repeated strikes is continuing. Recently they were on strike for five days. Now they have even started striking on every Wednesday.
One wonders: Why is there a High Court bench at Port Blair for just three lakh people, a High Court for just six lakh people of Sikkim, for just few lakhs of people of people in Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura? Why is there a High Court now for Uttarakhand since 2000 for just 88 lakh people, but not even a bench for more than nine crore people of West UP? Why such a raw treatment?
Karnataka has 3 High Court Benches, Maharashtra three, Assam four, and Madhya Pradesh two etc. even though they have less than one lakh pending cases. UP has maximum number of pending cases – more than 10 lakh -- of which West UP accounts for more than half of pending cases, 57%, as noted by Justice Jaswant Commission.
West UP has maximum number of fake encounter killings, custodial killings, dowry cases, maximum bride burning cases, human rights violations, robberies, dacoities, undertrials, and cases of loot. Not without reason, former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon termed UP as “crime and rape capital” of India -- thanks only to West UP.

Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, apart from Gorakhpur, are considered worthless by BJP’s central leadership for a High Court Bench in UP

The total area of West UP is 98,933 square km and accounts for 33.61 percent of total area of UP and has 26 districts, yet it has no bench, but Lucknow with just 62,363 square km and 12 districts has a bench. The Allahabad High Court is the biggest High Court in whole of Asia, as claimed by Yogi Adityanath, and also one of the oldest High Courts. But that is hardly a solace for the people of west UP.
The UPA government headed by former PM Manmohan Singh decided to create two more High Court Benches for Karnataka which already had a Bench at Hubli for just four and eight districts at Dharwad and Gulbarga respectively in 2008, first as Circuit Bench and then later in 2013 as full Bench as the Karnataka leaders who were very influential were Law Ministers and cared for Karnataka.
The lawyers of West UP headed by senior lawyers and Chairman and Secretary of Central Action Committee constituted for setting up a High Court Bench in 1981 repeatedly met the PM, UPA Chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi among others but nothing happened thereafter.
But why blame UPA alone? Even the incumbent PM Narendra Damodardas Modi has ensured that not a single High Court is approved anywhere, not just in West UP but in any nook and corner of UP, even though it is UP which primarily decides which party will rule in Delhi.
Ranjan Gogoi when CJI had appreciated the dire need of a High Court Bench in West UP when a woman lawyer KL Chitra raised the issue in her PIL, but Gogoi made it clear that it was for the Centre to take the final call on this. But the Centre led by Modi is very firm not to allow a bench other than the one that exists in Lucknow.
Clearly, Jayant Chaudhary has played a super master stroke by promising three High Court Benches for UP which has refreshed the lawyer community the most in UP. Indeed, even holy cities like Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, apart from Gorakhpur in UP, are considered worthless by BJP’s central leadership for a High Court Bench in UP. This has exposed BJP in the eyes of the people.

---
*Advocate, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

Comments

Tracing roots of Hindutva Zionism: cannon fodder for 'warped' nationalist pretensions

By Shamsul Islam* Those who believe in a world free of hegemonic ethno-nationalism, racism, religious bigotry and hatred have rightly taken note of Zionism and its ally Christian Zionism, major perpetrators of ethnic cleansing of ‘Others’. However, the civilized world with its core belief in multi-culturalism and peaceful co-existence is oblivious to a no less dangerous threat to the present human civilization: the Hindutva Zionism. As the term reads it is part of the Hindutva world-view which stands for an exclusive Hindu India minus Muslims and Christians. The other religions like Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism will have no independent status but treated as part of Hinduism. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; National Volunteer Organization) is the most prominent flag-bearer of the Hindutva politics whose cadres presently rule India, the largest democracy in the world. RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889-1940) in 1925 who was disillusioned with the Indian freedom st

'Blatant violation' of law by Central government in making NREGA payments

By Our Representative In September third week, NREGA workers across the country were mobilised for two day so raise their issues and submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister. Organised the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a collective of groups that work with NREGA labourers across the country, workers from 13 states -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- carried out Kaam Do Abhiyaan, staging demonstrations and rallies against what they called blatant violation of law by the Central government in making NREGA payments. While NREGA has had very positive impacts, it has lately become fruitless, exploiting labour, even though workers who have put in honest hard work have to wait for their wages endlessly, it was suggested. In such a situation, there is a need to firm up NREGA implementation and end systematic corruption to ensure that workers get their basic NREGA entit

Shocking? No Covid vaccine trials conducted on pregnant, lactating women: RTI reply

By Rosamma Thomas* A Right to Information applicant who sought details of safety trials conducted in India on pregnant and lactating women for three Covid vaccines in use in India – Covishield, Covaxin and ZyCov-D -- was shocked to learn from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) that Serum Institute, manufacturer of Covishield, and Cadila Healthcare, manufacturer of the ZyCov-D vaccine, had not sought permission for such trials. Bharat Biotech, manufacturer of Covaxin, had sought permission for trial on pregnant women and later withdrawn its application. This response , provided after the applicant was initially unsatisfied with the response and went in appeal, is from the joint drugs controller, CDSCO. It was dated September 13, 2022. One researcher closely following the vaccine rollout, however, is of the opinion that the lack of a trial on pregnant and lactating women is a blessing; potential trial participants and their unborn babies thus escaped harm. Aruna Ro

Fascism on prowl? Religious meet 'deeply pained' at silence of Church, bishops, priests

Counterview Desk The ‘Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace’which held its 17th National Convention at the Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana from 22 to 24 September 2022 on the theme “Deepening our Identity as Religious: Responding to the Signs of the Times”, has expressed concern “at the deteriorating situation of our nation on every front”, especially stating, “Fascism seems to have come to stay” in India. At the same time, the convention, which took place with the participation of 60 persons from 16 states representing 20 religious congregations, in its unanimously-adopted statement added, “We have reached abysmal depths on every parameter: be it social, economic and political”, underlining, “The poor in India become poorer every day; the rich and powerful continue to profiteer at their expense and amass scandalous amounts of wealth.” Text: We, members (63 women and men Religious, from 16 states representing 20 Congregations) of the Forum of Religious for Justice

Rajasthan cops 'halt' Gujarat Dalit women's rally: homage to untouchability victim boy

By Our Representative In a surprise move, the Rajasthan police stopped a Dalit women's rally from Gujarat on the borders after it crossed Gujarat alleging that it would "disturb peace" in village Surana, Jalore district, where the gruesome incident of death of a Dalit boy took place on August 13 after he was brutally beaten up by his teacher on touching the drinking water pot. Sources said, while the Gujarat government had "no objection" in allowing the rally, which originated from the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), an empowerment-cut-technical institute for teens founded by human rights leader Martin Macwan, on September 24 morning, the Rajasthan police stopped it for two and a half hours before allowing it to proceed to Surana. The decision to take out a women's rally was taken at a DSK meeting on September 5 following a condolence meeting of the NGO Navsarjan Trust, also founded by Macwan, activists committed to work against caste-based discrimination, orga

Introducing non-native cheetahs is 'not equivalent' to restoring pride in the nation

By Bappaditya Mukhopadhyay* The Cheetahs from the African continent has finally been introduced to India by the Indian Prime Minister on his 72nd birthday. The process had started with the previous Government in 2009. However, the Supreme Court clearance was pending owing to the objection by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) plea to reintroduce cheetahs. Finally the clearance was obtained in January 2020 and thereafter Kuno National Park (KNP) was chosen for the reintroduction of first set of Southeast African Cheetahs. In the near future, depending upon the success story of the current reintroduction, more cheetahs from South Africa may also be introduced. This exercise has generated a lot of interest among various stakeholders with opinions on both sides galore. It is important to pose some questions that surround the whole exercise. Let us evaluate some of these arguments. The first set of arguments are quite detached from the issues of conservation as they most

'Military diplomacy': US praises Bangladesh Army for leadership role in UN operations

By Kamal Uddin Mazumder* As the Indo-Pacific region represents the world’s economic and strategic center of gravity, the Indian Ocean today is becoming the centerpiece of all geo-strategic play. Cooperation in the region is crucial to implementing the international community’s global agenda, including achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Major powers like the US have enhanced and deepened their strategic engagement and leadership roles with countries in the region. The Indo-Pacific Army Management Seminar, or IPAMS, is a U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) initiated conference that is aimed at facilitating and enhancing interactions among the armies of the Indo-Pacific region. This year's 46th Indo-Pacific Armies Management Seminar (IPAMS)-2022, co-hosted by the Bangladesh Army and US Army Pacific (USARPAC), concluded in Dhaka. The objective of IPAMS is to promote peace and stability in the region through mutual understanding, dialogue, and friendship. It is the largest confer

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Grave error? Scholar blames ex-Gujarat babu for anti-Christian riots 'citing fake report'

By Rajiv Shah A few days back, I received a message from one of the finest former Gujarat government bureaucrats, PG Ramrakhiani, a 1964 batch IAS official, who retired in November 2000. I would often interact with him in 1997-99, even later, after I was sent to Gandhinagar as a Times of India man to cover Sachivalaya. Those were turbulent times. Shankarsinh Vaghela was the Gujarat chief minister, under attack from two sides – from the BJP, which he had left to form a separate breakaway party, Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), one one hand, and the Congress, which was supporting him from outside, on the other. Ramrakhiani, in his message, referred to the book authored by Ghanshyam Shah and Jan Breman, both top-notch scholars who have known Gujarat in and out. Called “Gujarat, Cradle and Harbinger of Identity Politics: India’s Injurious Frame of Communalism”, I reviewed the book in January 2022. It claims that Muslims in Gujarat have been turned into “new untouchables”, thanks to the Hin

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Counterview

Search This Blog