NEW DELHI: The High Courts of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta may soon undergo a change in nomenclature. Keeping in mind the long-pending demands of the States to rename their High Courts as per the present names of the cities/States, the NDA Government is all set to rename the respective High Courts.
The Madras High Court may soon be renamed as Chennai High Court, the Bombay High Court as Mumbai High Court and Calcutta High Court as Kolkata High Court as the Ministry of Law and Justice is all set to bring a Bill in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament in July to this effect.
The Law Ministry has also plans to bring a Bill to rename high courts on a case-by-case basis through an Act of Parliament as it was seen that every time a court has to be renamed, a new bill will have to introduced which is a tedious task.
According to Law Ministry officials, a Cabinet note on a Bill for changing the names of the High Court’s is being prepared. The new Bill is likely to be introduced in the monsoon session next month. As per the process, a proposal for name change should not only come from the State governments but also from the respective High Courts as it involves technical issues regarding statute books and the fact that the courts, especially the three presidency courts of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta were established under the Indian High Court Act of 1861. Though Tamil Nadu and Maharshtra have already given their consent for the name change, the West Bengal government has given its approval and has written to the Calcutta High Court and is waiting for its approval.
Besides these three High Courts, the Orissa High Court has not yet taken the changed name of the State (Odisha).