'UP Reorganisation Act' Challenge: High Court Refuses To Implead President Of India; Rejects Prayer Against First Uttarakhand CM

The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) last week refused a prayer to implead the President of India in a writ petition (filed in 2000) challenging the promulgation/notification of the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. A bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai observed that if the petitioner is aggrieved by the legislation, the appropriate Head of the Department responsible for moving and passing the impugned legislation must be made a party, rather than the President. The observation came while the Court was hearing a 26-year-old writ petition challenging provisions of the 2000 Act, which carved out the state of Uttarakhand (then Uttaranchal) from Uttar Pradesh. The Court also dealt with a prayer in the plea regarding the political leadership of the newly formed state of Uttarakhand, dating back to 2000-2001. Essentially, the petitioner (Qamar Ahmad) had sought a writ of Quo Warranto against several political leaders, including the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Nityanand Swami and 8 other leaders like Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Dr Indira Hridayesh and Tirath Singh Rawat. The petitioner had contended in his plea that all these leaders were members of the Legislative Council of the State of UP and, by virtue of their inclusion in the 4th Schedule of the Act, became members of the Provisional Legislative Assembly of the State of Uttaranchal. This, it was argued, was without any authority in law as they had been elected as members of the Legislative Council of UP and not Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand). Against this backdrop, the petitioner prayed that a writ in the nature of Quo Warranto be issued to these leaders to vacate their respective offices/ posts. It also prayed for a writ of Mandamus commanding the Nityanand Swami (Respondent no. 6) not to function as the Chief Minister of the State of Uttaranchal from the date with effect from which he had become the CM However, noting the extreme passage of time, the Bench refused to entertain this plea. The Court pointed out that the application was filed in May 2001. Had orders been passed then, objections could have been filed. "However, after 24 years of filing of such application, we cannot pass any orders directing the petitioner to implead proposed respondent nos. 6 to 14 or to amend the prayer as proposed...as the current status of such persons against whom Quo Warranto is sought and interim stay on their functioning has been sought is not known either to the petitioner or to this Court," the Bench remarked. However, the bench allowed him to implead the State of Uttarakhand through the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, as a Respondent in the writ petition. Furthermore, the Union Secretary, Law and Justice, the Union Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the State of UP, through the Principal Secretary, Law Department, were also impleaded as Respondents in the writ petition. It may be noted that the writ petition was originally filed in the year 2000. It was subsequently transferred to the Supreme Court and remained there until September 17, 2015, when the Apex Court remanded the matter back to the Allahabad High Court for a decision on the merits. In Feb 2023, it was dismissed for want of prosecution. This order was later recalled (in August 2025) and the plea was restored. The matter has been listed for the next hearing on February 25, 2026.

'UP Reorganisation Act' Challenge: High Court Refuses To Implead President Of India; Rejects Prayer Against First Uttarakhand CM

Sparsh Upadhyay

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