New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court order upholding the decision of the Maharashtra government to rename Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.
Order of Bombay High Court well-reasoned one: Apex Court
A bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatii, while dismissing the plea against the High Court order, said that the order of the High Court was well-reasoned one.
Bunch of petitions before Bombay High Court challenged renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad
The High Court, while deciding a bunch of pleas challenging the Maharashtra government’s decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad, had said that challenging the renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad were bereft of merits and the notification issued by the Maharashtra government for renaming does not warrant any interference.
Essence of rose would not change if it has a different name, High Court observed
The High Court, while quoting William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, said in its order, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” adding that Shakespeare made a profound observation about the nature of names and says that a name does not make something that it is and even if rose had a different name other than “rose”, the essence of the flower would not change and it would still be the same.
The High Court had further said that the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code (MLRC) permits the state government of Maharashtra to abolish any revenue area and to name or rename and alter the name of the area.
“We have no hesitation to conclude that so far as the challenge made by the Petitioners to rename the revenue areas of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively, is concerned, the statutory provisions contained in Section 4 of the MLRC have been followed and in absence of any procedural flaw, we are unable to subscribe to the submissions made by the petitioners,” the High Court had said.