Bombay High Court finds no illegality in renaming of Aurangabad & Osmanabad cities
Bombay High Court finds no illegality in renaming of Aurangabad & Osmanabad cities
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed petitions challenging the decision of the Maharashtra government to rename the city and revenue divisions of Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.
The bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor ruled that the notifications renaming the cities were not illegal.
“We have no hesitation to hold that the notifications renaming cities and revenue divisions do not suffer from any illegality or legal vice,” the bench said.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government under Uddhav Thackeray decided to rename both Aurangabad and Osmanabad in its cabinet meeting on June 29, 2021.
Aurangabad city and the revenue division were renamed as ‘Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’, while Osmanabad was renamed as ‘Dharashiv’.
Later, the next government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on July 16, 2022, re-affirmed the decision of the MVA government.
Post this, a clutch of petitions came to be filed before the High Court by individuals, including the residents of the respective districts.
The petitions stated that the state government had aborted its attempt to change the name of Aurangabad in 2001.
However, the government led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray raised the issue in his last cabinet meeting, allegedly in an unauthorised manner for political benefits, the petitioners claimed.
The petitioners claimed that the decision was in complete disregard to the provisions of the Constitution.
The plea against renaming Osmanabad submitted that the name change of Osmanabad to Dharashiv could incite religious and communal hatred, causing rifts between religious groups, and was thus contrary to India’s secular fabric.
It also pointed out that, in 1998, the Maharashtra government had attempted to alter the name of Osamnabad to Dharashiv, but failed.
In response to this, the Maharashtra government claimed that the change in the name of ‘Osmanabad’ to ‘Dharashiv’ neither led to any religious or communal hatred nor did it cause any rift between religious groups.
They stated that, to the contrary, the majority of the people celebrated after the change of name of Osmanabad to Dharashiv.
The government specifically denied allegations that the change of name was a politically motivated move for the purpose of hate mongering towards a community.
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