CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court dismissed a PIL seeking to change the spelling of Cuttack to Katak, imposing a cost of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner for indulging in “publicity interest litigation”.
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman on April 15 observed that the issue falls squarely within the domain of the government and does not warrant judicial intervention under Article 226 of the Constitution. The copy of the order was uploaded on Friday.
The petitioner Srujeet Khuntia, a resident of Cuttack city, had approached the court twice with the same plea. While the first petition allowed him to submit a representation to the government, the second was dismissed at the threshold for lacking any element of public interest. Khuntia filed another PIL citing a recent public notice issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management department proposing corrections in the spelling of several names across Odisha.
Rejecting the plea, the bench held, “It is within the domain of the government to take a conscious decision to write the name of a place. The court should not extend its powers enshrined under Article 226, nor should the court use the power conferred upon the executives/bureaucrats taking shelter under the aforesaid provision.”
The bench remarked that a litigant cannot be permitted to approach the court raising the same issues. Once a litigation of such nature has already been dismissed, the present PIL on the self-same cause is not maintainable, it added.