Lawyers abstain from work, demand high court bench in West Uttar Pradesh

The lawyers of Surajpur district court and other neighbouring district courts on Thursday abstained from work, demanding the formation of an Allahabad high court (HC) bench in western Uttar Pradesh

The lawyers of Surajpur district court and other neighbouring district courts on Thursday abstained from work, demanding the formation of an Allahabad high court (HC) bench in western Uttar Pradesh. This has been a long-standing demand since 1978, they said.

Lawyers abstain from work, demand high court bench in West Uttar Pradesh

Manoj Bhati, president of district bar association, Surajpur, said that the lawyers of Uttar Pradesh West formed a committee -- Kendriya Sangharsh Samiti -- to spearhead a campaign for the formation of a high court bench in western part of the state. “The committee decided on Thursday that the lawyers should abstain from work in protest. Accordingly, we did not work on Thursday and submitted a memorandum to the district administration over the issue,” Bhati said.

Mahavir Singh Tyagi, chairman of the committee, said that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited Meerut on Thursday where a three-member delegation of lawyers met him and briefed him about their demands. “The chief minister has assured us that the matter will be considered. Lawyers from different districts of western Uttar Pradesh abstained from work on Thursday, and they are planning to visit Noida to put their demands before the chief minister during his visit to Gautam Budh Nagar on November 25 this year for the foundation ceremony of the Jewar airport, yet again,” Tyagi said.

At present, the Allahabad high court has a bench in Lucknow, which caters to 12 neighbouring districts. Western Uttar Pradesh comprises of 22 districts -- Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Baghpat, Aligarh, Hathras, Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Bareilly, Badaun, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, Muzaffarpur, Shamli, Moradabad, Bijnor, Rampur, Amroha and Sambhal.

Tyagi also said that, at present, people from these districts need to visit Allahabad for any work at the high court. “Even for an affidavit -- which can be made here for ₹200 -- people have to spend ₹7,000. The expenses incurred in travelling to Allahabad, staying in guest houses, paying lawyer’s fee, among others. In case of fighting a legal case, people’s struggle gets prolonged,” he added.

Tyagi said that there is no specific district for the bench in western Uttar Pradesh. “The government can make the bench in any district in West Uttar Pradesh,” he said.