Lawyers march to Parl demanding HC bench for West UP

Demanding that a bench of Allahabad HC be set up in western UP, lawyers from the region on Wednesday marched towards Parliament and blocked traffic.

New Delhi: Demanding that a bench of Allahabad High Court be set up in western Uttar Pradesh, lawyers from the region on Wednesday marched towards Parliament and blocked traffic.

Scores of lawyers from various cities of western Uttar Pradesh like Saharanpur, Meerut and Bulandshahr marched towards Parliament in support of their demand for setting up a bench of Allahabad High Court in the region. "We and our clients have to unnecessarily travel to Allahabad for hearing of cases. It causes problems for both of us. It has been our long standing demand," said Arvind Tewari, one of the lawyers participating in the march. The lawyers after dodging police barricades moved towards Parliament but where stopped near Transport Bhawan by the police and paramilitary personnel deployed there. After much persuasion, they agreed to vacate the road and were removed from there. Setting up of a bench in western Uttar Pradesh has been a long standing demand, which has even been supported by political leaders. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had last month met Law Minister Ashwini Kumar in this regard and assured him to look into the demand. The Minister had said that the demand also has relevance as there were 14 lakh pending cases in the high court and most of them were from western Uttar Pradesh region. At present, the Allahabad High Court has a bench in Lucknow. PTI