LUCKNOW, Jan. 17 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has expressed strong dissatisfaction over the UP government's response in a pending public interest litigation (PIL) challenging alleged gender discrimination in succession rights over agricultural land under the UP Revenue Code, 2006, and has directed the state's additional chief secretary, revenue, to file a clear and reasoned affidavit (reply) within two weeks. A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary passed the order on January 12 on the PIL filed by Siddhartha Shukla along with several other pleas filed by women petitioners. The grievance raised in these petitions is that the existing statutory scheme governing succession to agricultural holdings continues to discriminate against unmarried, married and widowed daughters, thereby violating constitutional guarantees of equality. The court noted that since the challenged enactment is a state law, it had earlier called upon the Uttar Pradesh government to place its stand on record. While affidavits were filed by the state in 2021 and again in 2025, the court found them to be "woefully lacking" in necessary averments on the crucial issue of constitutional validity. According to the bench, instead of addressing whether the impugned provisions withstand constitutional scrutiny, the affidavits largely confined themselves to narrating the legislative history of the law. Taking serious note of the state's stand, the court directed that a fresh affidavit be filed by none other than the additional chief secretary or principal secretary of the revenue department. The court made it clear that the affidavit must specifically address whether the government is genuinely pursuing the issue of equal succession rights for daughters through the cabinet sub-committee. The state has also been asked to indicate how long it would take to reconstitute the committee and provide an approximate timeline for submission of its report. The court directed to list the matter for February 2, 2026, among the first 10 cases of the day. MANOJ KUMAR SINGH...