Why Indian High Courts still have old names despite change in city name ? [Watch Video]

New Delhi: Have you ever wondered why the Mumbai High Court is still known as the Bombay High Court, the Kolkata High Court as the Calcutta High Court, the Chennai High Court as the Madras High Court, and the Prayagraj High Court as the Allahabad High Court? Lets delve into why the names of these cities have changed, but the high court names have remained the same.

Recently, the Centre clarified that there are no plans to change the names of the Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta High Courts. In a written response to Rajya Sabha MP CV Shanmugam, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal confirmed that the names of these historic high courts will remain unchanged.

Also Watch: Why Indian High Courts still have old names ? || Bombay HC, Madras HC, Calcutta HC

Meghwal provided a historical context, citing the Madras (Alteration of Name) Act of 1996, which renamed the city of Madras to Chennai. Following this change, the Tamil Nadu government proposed renaming the Madras High Court to the High Court of Chennai in 1997. Similarly, proposals were made for the Bombay and Calcutta High Courts following the renaming of their respective cities.

In 2016, the government introduced the High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill in the Lok Sabha to rename the Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras High Courts to the Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai High Courts. Despite consultations with the concerned state governments and high courts, the responses were mixed. While the Maharashtra government and Bombay High Court agreed to the proposed change, the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal governments, along with their respective high courts, did not.

The bill ultimately lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Further attempts, including a petition in the Supreme Court, were also unsuccessful. Meghwal noted that the Supreme Court dismissed a petition in 2022 seeking to rename the Bombay High Court as the High Court of Maharashtra.

As of now, there is no proposal to reintroduce legislation on this matter.

Why do you think the renaming of historic high courts has faced such resistance despite the changes in city names? Do you think preserving the historic names of these high courts holds cultural significance, or should they reflect the modern names of their cities?