MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday passed an interim order directing the state to proceed with the works, but not to take a final decision in a plea challenging the GO issued by the state government to remove and rename streets, areas, water bodies, and others with caste names.
A bench comprising Justices Anita Sumanth and C Kumarappan issued the notice to the state in the PIL filed by advocate S Paramasivam from Madurai.
Paramasivam stated in his petition that the GO stipulates the procedures for identifying and removing caste names. However, there have been no complaints about caste abuse by quoting the names of the streets, roads, or water bodies over the years. The direction was issued by the state government ahead of the next legislative assembly election. The government is not providing equal treatment or eradicating communal hatred, but rather altering names to favour leaders. The list of sample names, he pointed out, excludes great patriots from Tamil Nadu who sacrificed their lives and wealth during the freedom struggle. Instead, it strangely proposes the names of a British individual against whom their forefathers fought, he stated.