Oudh Bar Association to again raise High Court Lucknow bench’s jurisdiction issue

The contentious issue of realigning jurisdiction of the high court between Allahabad and its Lucknow bench is back again. Increasing the territorial jurisdiction of the high court’s Lucknow bench is a long-pending demand of lawyers of the state capital.

Currently, 16 out of total 75 U.P. districts are under the jurisdiction of the high court’s Lucknow bench. The Oudh Bar Association (OBA) of the Lucknow high court bench has been demanding to bring Bareilly, Moradabad and Kanpur divisions under the Lucknow bench’s jurisdiction. These divisions are under the Allahabad high court as of now.

The OBA has convened a statewide convention of the district bar associations in the state capital on December 1. These are the bar associations which have extended support to the lawyers of Lucknow on this issue.

The OBA has been demanding expansion of jurisdiction of the high court’s Lucknow bench for the past several years. High court lawyers in the state capital have boycotted work on the issue on several occasions.

However, lawyers of the Allahabad high court have been opposing any change in high court’s jurisdiction. Lawyers of western Uttar Pradesh have also extended their support to the OBA on the issue.

“Till we get a separate bench of the high court in western Uttar Pradesh, lawyers of the region want their jurisdiction to be attached with the Lucknow high court,” said Anand Mani Tripathi, president, OBA.

“Western Uttar Pradesh comes under the Allahabad high court’s jurisdiction. If a litigant of western U.P. has to go to Allahabad high court, they will have to reach there passing through Lucknow,” said Tripathi.

“Kanpur comes under the Allahabad high court’s jurisdiction while its twin town Unnao falls under purview of the Lucknow bench. How can you justify this,” asked Tripathi.

Kanpur is just 72 km away from the state capital while its is 199 km away from Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad). “We have convened a statewide convention on December 1 demanding expansion of territorial jurisdiction of the Luckow bench,” Tripathi said.

The OBA is an apex body of lawyers of the Lucknow high court with around 5,000 members.

What Jaswant Singh panel said

In March 1981, the then Uttar Pradesh government had recommended shifting jurisdiction of a few districts from the Allahabad high court to its Lucknow bench for the convenience of litigants.

Thereafter, the central government in September 1981 constituted the Jaswant Singh Commission to submit its report on the Uttar Pradesh government’s proposal and requirement of a separate bench of the high court in western U.P.

In its report, the Jaswant Singh Commission recommended relocation of Bareilly and Moradabad regions from the Allahabad high court’s jurisdiction to the Lucknow bench. It had also recommended a separate bench of the high court in Agra.

Districts under HC’s Lucknow bench

Lucknow, Unnao, Bahraich, Ayodhya (Faizabad), Sultanpur, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Barabanki, Gonda, Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Balrampur and Shravasti.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the LatestLaws staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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