It is very rightly pointed out in the enlightening column titled “Not A Good Sign When Bar Council Does Not Earn Respect Of Its Members: SC Justice Hon’ble Ms BV Nagarathna” by Hon’ble Ms Justice BV Nagarathna, as I read in the “Bar and Bench” website, authored by Debayan Roy, in which the Supreme Court Judge said that the Bar must speak in one voice as the justice system grapples with pendency and delay. Absolutely right! A huge backlog of pending cases we see in different High Courts, with Allahabad High Court being right at the top!
Bar Councils Must Uphold Professional Ethics
By all accounts, she also most commendably said that Bar Councils must introspect on their role in upholding professional ethics, morality and competence. She most sagaciously pointed out that "The Bar Councils, whether the Central or the States, must introspect their role and importance in upholding professional ethics, morality and professional competence." When a Bar Council does not earn the respect of its members, it is not a good sign for the legal profession.”
We need to note that Hon’ble Ms Justice Nagarathna made these observations while delivering a key address at the 13th convocation of National Law University, Delhi, on August 29, 2026. Also present on this solemn occasion were Delhi High Court Chief Justice Hon’ble Mr Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, who is Chancellor of the University; Judges of the Delhi High Court; and Vice-Chancellor Prof. GS Bajpai.
The Bar Must Speak in a Singular Voice
It has to be taken into account that her remarks come weeks after a controversy involving Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, who had directed State Bar Councils not to enrol the graduating 2026 batch of NALSAR, Hyderabad, as advocates after they objected to the invitation of Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Mr Surya Kant for their own convocation.
She added that "The Bar in India must rise and speak in a singular voice as to how it could sustain the system of justice dispensation in India," pointing to pendency, delays, rising costs and uncertainty in the system. Absolutely right!
High Court Bench Distribution and the West UP Issue
It is in this context that I would seek to point out here how long the Supreme Court will keep playing second fiddle in front of the Centre and keep giving unfettered licences to most horrendously and most mercilessly discriminate and perpetrate the most atrocious discrimination perpetrated in the distribution of High Courts and High Court Benches and High Court Circuit Benches in different states and different regions?
Not a single High Court Judge of Allahabad High Court or Patna High Court or Jodhpur High Court or Cuttack High Court or Ahmedabad High Court, among others, nor even any Judge of the Supreme Court has ever dared to take suo motu cognisance of this most merciless butchering of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution!
Biggest insane person on earth in his/her right senses will definitely never endorse what Congress and BJP have done who have ruled in Centre that just one High Court Bench for most populated State of India with maximum number of pending cases and that too so close to Allahabad High Court at Lucknow way back in July 1948 and deprived West UP from having not even a single High Court Bench not even a single High Court Circuit Bench which owes for majority of pending cases of Allahabad High Court which is all on record and has more than 10 crore people and 30 districts and so also attached litigants of 30 districts of West UP and hilly areas of undivided UP with not even Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad which culminated in partition of Uttar Pradesh 26 years ago in which so many people sacrificed their lives and yet Supreme Court never dared to take suo motu cognizance of non-implementation of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommendations headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself which recommended two High Court Circuit Benches in Dehradun and Nainital and a permanent seat of High Court Bench in West UP yet not even one created anywhere which is a national disgrace.
High Court Bench Comparison
| State / Region | High Court Bench Position Mentioned |
|---|---|
| West UP | Not even a single High Court Bench nor even a Circuit Bench |
| Maharashtra | Multiple High Court benches at Nagpur and Panaji, one more created at Aurangabad |
| Karnataka | Two High Court Benches for Karnataka at Dharwad and Gulbarga |
| Bihar | None |
| Rajasthan | Only one |
| Orissa | None |
| Gujarat | None |
Maharashtra, which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji, had one more created at Aurangabad as recommended within a very short span of time in the mid-1980s for just 7 districts, and now one more fifth High Court Bench is approved for just 6 districts at Kolhapur, which started functioning on August 18, 2025, without any recommendations, but in UP, not a single Bench was created in the last 78 years, and so also lawless Bihar has none, and Rajasthan only one, and Orissa and Gujarat none, and the Centre has equipped only five elite states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh – with multiple High Court Benches, most astoundingly leaving big states like UP, Rajasthan, and lawless Bihar out from the elite club!
Why does no judge of the Supreme Court ever dare to speak on it? Most chillingly, even the Supreme Court never dared to take suo motu cognisance of it and press, which is considered the fourth pillar of Indian democracy, also maintains a conspicuous deafening silence on it and hardly ever accords any prime coverage to it!
Denial of a High Court Bench to West UP
To say the very least, the denial of even a single High Court Bench to West UP on most flimsy grounds is patently ludicrous!
When Centre can create in one go two High Court Benches for Karnataka, which is the home state of Hon’ble Ms Justice BV Nagarathna, who is one of the most fearless judges and who is tipped to be the first woman Chief Justice in 2027 with just 6 crore people at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts in 2008, first as Circuit Benches and then made permanent in 2013, then why for West UP with more than 10 crore people and 30 districts do we see that it has not even a single High Court Bench nor even a Circuit Bench, to say the very least?
This most brutal, brazen, blatant and baseless discrimination must end right now!
Political Will for a West UP Bench
Now the Karnataka State Government has recommended one more for the creation of a Circuit Bench in Mangaluru for just 3 districts, but for 30 districts of West UP, we saw that UP CM Yogi Adityanath recommended to Allahabad High Court for the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP in January 2024 only to withdraw the recommendation the very next day!
It is nothing but sheer lack of political will that West UP has been most mercilessly deprived of having even a single bench, not even a circuit bench!
When more than Rs 42000 crore can be spent straightaway for linking Allahabad to Meerut by the Ganga Super Motorway and still litigants will have to shell out huge money in many toll booths on the way, then why the hell can’t a very small amount be spared for creating a High Court Bench in West UP?
How can Hon’ble Ms Justice BV Nagarathna still maintain a deafening silence on this, just like Hon’ble Mr Justice JB Pardiwala and CJI Hon’ble Mr Surya Kant, who in fact himself have conceded that the demand for a High Court Bench in West UP is most compelling, but when will it be addressed? She must speak on this also!
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High Court Bench in Ladakh
We saw how just recently, the Centre has decided to create a High Court Bench in Ladakh with Union Cabinet approval, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced this on August 20 and notified the gazette of India on August 27, 2026, which will definitely provide great relief to litigants of Ladakh, for which the Centre has to be applauded, but how long will litigants of West UP be made to suffer silently for just no fault of theirs?
A Deeper Malaise in High Court Bench Distribution
If one looks at the whole picture, we see that it reflects a far deeper malaise which now no more can be hidden from public gaze any longer.
How long will the Centre keep downplaying and stonewalling the most legitimate and compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP and so also in Orissa and Bihar and some other states?
This is clearly a stark reminder of how much the Centre discriminates most ruthlessly yet is never held accountable even by the top court!
Why does the Apex Court never take Centre to task for it?
Independence of the Bar
Coming back to the core issue, on the independence of the Bar, Hon’ble Ms Justice BV Nagarathna explicitly said that "the independence of the Bar is not an entitlement given to lawyers for their own benefit. It exists because a constitutional democracy requires a body of professionals who can advise, argue, challenge and represent without having to ask the permission of the state, the market, or even their own clients before doing so.”
No denying!
She also rightly and commendably cautioned that any lapse or errors of the Bar will have a deep impact on our political and civic life and urged lawyers to change their mindset and endure to work for their clients as a public service, lest they lose their relevance in the future to come.
Legal Profession as an Office of Trust
It must be brought out here that, in the legal profession more broadly, she waxed eloquent to observe candidly that "a profession is not an occupation or a trade but an office of trust and cannot be reduced to a person who sells legal knowledge by the hour.”
She then closed her scintillating address by telling the graduating batch most commendably that they leave the institution as “Officers of the Court and Stewards of the Constitution”.
What she has said will definitely act as the biggest motivator to all graduating batches for which she deserves to be most strongly applauded!
Need for More High Court Benches
All said and done, one still fervently hopes that before demitting office she will address this most long lingering issue of the creation of a High Court Bench in West UP, where it is actually needed most, as I have myself observed, and yet has been most mercilessly and most unjustifiably denied the same on one pretext or the other, which I find truly incomprehensible and most astounding indeed!
Similarly, in deserving states like Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan, more High Court benches need to be created!
They definitely cannot be afforded to be put in the backburner any longer now!
Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A - 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.
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