New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved the renaming of Bombay and Madras High Courts to Mumbai and Chennai. The cabinet approved the Law and Justice Ministry proposal to change the names of the two high courts through an Act of Parliament to correspond to the present names of the cities Mumbai and Chennai respectively.
The move comes after demands to rename the high courts as Mumbai High Court and Chennai High Court after the metros were rechristened in 1990s. During the cabinet briefing, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the name of the Calcutta High Court too will be changed to Kolkata High Court. However, an official released issued later mentioned only the Madras and the Bombay high courts.
The proposal of the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry is to bring a Bill — The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 — to rename the two high courts established in 1860s under Indian High Court Act, 1861. But at present, there is no central law under which the proposal for change of names of these high courts can be addressed.
