No plans to change names of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta High Courts: Centre
There are no plans to change the names of the Madras, Bombay and Calcutta High Courts, the Centre told Parliament on Thursday. This was stated in response to a question by Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu CV Shanmugam.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal recalled the history of the proposal in his reply.
Under the Madras (Alteration of Name) Act, 1996, the city of Madras was renamed as Chennai. Following this, the Tamil Nadu government sent a proposal to change the name of the Madras High Court to the High Court of Chennai in 1997, said Meghwal.
The names of Bombay and Calcutta had also changed by that time. The government thus brought a legislation titled “High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016” to change the names of the Bombay, Calcutta and Madras High Courts to the Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai High Courts respectively. This was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016, said the minister.
Meanwhile the name of Orissa had changed to Odisha and Gauhati to Guwahati. Consultations were then carried out with the concerned state governments and high courts, said Meghwal, but there was a mixed response.
The Maharashtra government and Bombay High Court agreed to the proposal to change the name to Mumbai High Court.
The Orissa High Court and Odisha government as well as Gauhati High Court and Assam government also conveyed no objection to the proposal to change the names of the respective High Courts.
The Tamil Nadu government suggested that the name of the Madras High Court be changed to High Court of Tamil Nadu. The Madras High Court, however, did not agree to the proposal.
The Calcutta High Court and West Bengal government also did not agree to the proposal.
The bill was not taken any further and lapsed due to the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, he said.
Later, VP Patil had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to rename the Bombay High Court as High Court of Maharashtra and other high courts as per their current state/city names. But the Supreme Court dismissed the petition in 2022, noted Meghwal.
At present, there is no proposal to bring legislation on this subject, said the Law Minister in his written reply.