Petitioners Dub Renaming Of Osmanabad & Aurangabad As "Saffronization Of Country”; Bombay High Court Declines Status Quo

The bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Sandeep Marne instead decided to hear on March 27, 2023 all the PILs against Union Home Ministry's letter giving no-objection, and State's notification for name change, by allowing an amendment to the PILs.

“So has interim relief been rejected?” Senior Advocate Yusuf Muchhala asked for one of the petitioners. He apprehended that names of revenue divisions, railway stations, municipal corporations etc would also be changed while the High Court was still seized with the matter.

“It is implied,” the court responded, and explained that an order of stay would be like putting the cart before the horse, since the notification was already issued.

The decision to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv was taken by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government on June 29, 2022, hours before he stepped down. While CM Ekanth Shinde who took over after him called the decision ‘illegal,’ the Shinde government also proposed the name change on July 16, 2022.

On Monday, Advocate Pradnya Talekar, vehemently argued for a stay. She said that on one hand the State sought time to file an affidavit to the petition while on the other hand notifications renaming the cities were issued. A Nagar Panchayat resolution from 1963 was being used in 2022. “This is nothing but saffronization of the country,” she said.

The other reasons cited for a stay included, the improper constitution of cabinet at the time of initial decision dated July 16, 2022, in violation of Article 164 of the Constitution; no strong reason to change the name as required under the Circular of 1953, only a letter citing late Bal Thakeray's wish; no objections were called prior to issuance of notification; the name change was earlier undertaken in 1998, however government rescinded the said Notification in 2001, now it has no power to re-issue a notification for the same purpose, it would amount to exercise of power of review.

The Advocate General pointed out that they have published a draft notification for changing the name of revenue division and last date for submitting the objections was March 27, 2023. The court then allowed the amendments and posted the matter for final hearing on March 27, 2023.