Lawyers go on strike to press for HC bench in western UP

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, Nov 22: Judicial work in over 12 districts of western Uttar Pradesh came to a standstill on Friday as lawyers boycotted courts to demand setting up of a separate bench of Allahabad High Court in the region.

Litigants faced inconvenience as judicial work in districts Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Saharanpur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, and Baghpat was adversely affected due to the strike.

The call for the lawyers' boycott was given by an action committee in Muzaffarnagar district.

At present, Allahabad High Court has only one additional bench, at Lucknow.

President of District Bar Association Thakur Anup Singh said the agitating lawyers staged a dharna outside the office of district magistrate today to press their demand for a separate bench of High Court in western UP and a memorandum in this regard was sent to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The lawyers here have long been raising the issue in view of the inconvenience faced by litigants belonging to other regions of the state, Singh said.

At present, Allahabad High Court has only one additional bench, at Lucknow, which caters to about a dozen districts situated in the vicinity of the state capital.

PTI