No Proposal Pending To Setup Allahabad High Court's Bench In Western Uttar Pradesh: Centre Informs Rajya Sabha

The Ministry of Law & Justice today informed the Rajya Sabha that at present, no complete proposal regarding setting up of Bench of Allahabad High Court in Western Uttar Pradesh, particularly at Meerut is pending with the Government.

This piece of information was provided by the Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijijju in response to a question put up by MP Vijay Pal Singh Tomar regarding the Setting up of the High Court Bench at Meerut.

Essentially, the following three questions were asked by MP Tomar 

(a) whether Government proposes to set up a High Court Bench in Western Uttar Pradesh, particularly at Meerut;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) if not, the reasons therefor?

In response to these questions, the Union Law Minister answered thus:

"High Court Benches are established in accordance with the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Apex Court in W.P. (C) No. 379 of 2000 and after due consideration of a complete proposal from the State Government which has to provide necessary expenditure and infrastructural facilities and the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court who is required to look after the day to day administration of the High Court. The proposal to be complete should also have the consent of the Governor of the concerned State.

At present, no complete proposal regarding setting up of Bench of Allahabad High Court in Western Uttar Pradesh, particularly at Meerut, is pending with the Government."

It is important to note that a statement made by the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju last year regarding the setting up of a Bench of Allahabad High Court at Agra was misinterpreted and it had led to unnecessary controversy.

As per various media reports, while speaking at a sports event in Agra last year, Rijiju had said the central government was examining the feasibility of setting up a bench of the Allahabad High Court in Agra, however, the Union Law Minister had, later on, denied making any such statement.

In fact, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association Elders' Committee had even issued a resolution/public statement calling the Statement of Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju regarding the creation of Bench of Allahabad High Court at Agra as 'Childish' and 'Politically motivated'.

Issuing a public statement, Allahabad High Court Bar Association Elders' Committee has stated that it has taken note of the statement of the Union Law Minister regarding the creation of the Bench of Hon'ble High Court in Agra with concern.

However, soon thereafter, the Union Law Minister had posted on Twitter that he had never made any statement regarding the establishment of Allahabad High Court's bench at Agra.