What's in a name? asks HC; dismisses pleas against renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad

Mumbai: "What's in a name", the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said dismissing a bunch of petitions challenging the Maharashtra government's decision to rename Aurangabad district as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor said the petitions were bereft of merits and the notification issued by the state government (for renaming) does not warrant any interference.

"We have no hesitation to hold that the notification issued by the state government renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad does not suffer from any illegality or any legal vice," the bench said.

Quoting William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, the bench in its judgement said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The bench said Shakespeare made a profound observation on the nature of names, and that a name does not change anything and calling a rose something different would not change the essence of the flower.

The bench in its judgement said the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code permits the state government to abolish any revenue area and to name/rename and alter the name of the area.

The court said it has no hesitation to conclude that the government followed the statutory provisions before taking the decision to rename the two districts and cities.

The HC said it was of the opinion that the issue of alteration of name of a revenue area or even a city or town is not justiciable as courts lack the requisite tool to adjudicate such an issue.

"As to by what name a particular object or place is to be known cannot be judicially reviewed unless the name so proposed is atrocious," the high court said.

In 2022, the Maharashtra cabinet headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde approved the name of Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

On July 16, 2022, a Government Resolution was passed by the two-member cabinet for changing names and then forwarded to the central government.

In February 2023, the Union Home Ministry gave a no objection letter for changing the names of the cities and districts and thereafter, a gazette notification was issued by the state government changing the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad.

Several petitions were then filed by Aurangabad residents challenging the government's decision to rename the place as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Another PIL was filed by 17 residents of Osmanabad against the government's decision to rename it as Dharashiv.

Both the petitions termed the government's decision as "politically motivated".

The Maharashtra government had opposed the pleas, claiming the two places were renamed due to their history and not for any political reasons.