A court that mirrors poll-bound UP’s political and social fault lines
IN BLACK AND WHITE Allahabad HC reflects how an institution can become a magnet for thousands
AS AN EDUCATED CLASS EMERGES IN THE OBC, DALIT COMMUNITIES, IT IS A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY MAKE THEIR PRESENCE FELT
British established it as an administrative centre - with a court and police headquarters after the 1857 mutiny.
Was the epicentre of Indian politics for decades. Besides the Nehru-Gandhis, three other PMs Lal Bahadur Shastri, V P Singh and Chandrashekhar – had close connections with the city.
Allahabad University is one of country’s most important educational centres. BIFURCATION DEBATE
But maintaining this hegemony will not be easy for Allahabad. The demand for a separate bench of the court has emerged very strongly in west Uttar Pradesh. It will, be an issue in the 2017 elections.
This demand has found resonance among people from far-off places in the state. A Saharanpur litigant has to travel 752km to appear before the court. The setting up of a separate bench will have a multiplier effect on the Allahabad HC is the largest judicial body in the world, claims its bar association.
Has allotted strength of 160 judges but the court is working at less than 50% strength
Currently celebrating its 150th year, the court is in the process of digitising over a crore cases
Landmark cases include the verdict against Indira Gandhi’s election, which eventually led to the imposition of Emergency regional economy. In some ways, this demand resembles that for a separate state in the west.
Meerut is the strongest claimant for the bench, with Agra a close second. But this has been resisted strongly by the bar in Allahabad. Reports that BJP president Amit Shah was backing the demand provoked a backlash, forcing the party to beat a swift retreat.
While west UP lawyers allege that Allahabad lawyers don’t want to lose their monopoly over clients, Allahabad Bar Association president Radhakant Ojha has a different explanation. “A united judiciary has more integrity than a divided judiciary. In a smaller court, corruption is more rampant.”
BRAHMIN DOMINATION This is yet another way in which politics impinges on the court.
With the politics of identity, control over UP’s legislature and executive has shifted to OBCs and Dalits. However, upper castes continue to dominate the judiciary.
Suresh Chaudhary, a Dalit advocate, tells HT, “There are, at the most, 300 Dalit advocates out of 15,000. There has never been a single designated senior advocate who is a Dalit.”
But Ojha rebuts this claim. “There is no caste consideration. Though law was considered an elite profession earlier, it has already become democratised. I am a first-generation lawyer from a village.”
As an educated class emerges in both the OBC and Dalit communities, it is a matter of time before they make their presence felt in the judiciary – like they have in politics.