Lucknow, Aug 17 (IANS): The union government has sought the opinion of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the Allahabad High Court chief justice on the creation of a high court bench in western Uttar Pradesh, officials said Saturday.

A letter has been sent in this connection by Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal to the state government.

The letter comes in response to the growing demand for creation of a high court bench in western Uttar Pradesh as the people of the region find it very difficult to travel all the way to Allahabad or Lucknow for their cases.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MP Jayant Chowdhary recently wrote a letter to Sibal, demanding that a bench of the high court be set up in Meerut.

Jayant Chowdhary, along with his father and Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, also met the law minister some time back, pressing for an early decision on the matter.

Lawyers from 21 districts of western Uttar Pradesh have been staging a stir in favour of a high court bench in the region. This has been a long standing demand and has been debated for several decades now but no decision has been taken yet.