DNA
 
Mumbai, Mar 31: The city of Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1997. The only major institution that has stuck to Bombay was the High Court. Now, the State government has written to the Centre to change the name of the Bombay High Court to Mumbai High Court. The Upper House was informed on Friday that the state is very serious about this.

Diwakar Raote, Shiv Sena leader, told the House, “Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh replied to my letter promptly. He said that he has written to the Law and Judiciary department of Central Government for further permission.” Raote also said the name change issue ought to be pursued on a “war footing”.

Said Jamshed Mistry, a High Court lawyer, “Frankly, the name change subject is a non-issue. The government has changed the name of the city but today Mumbai and Bombay are used synonymously. It is the government’s prerogative to change names.”

The city’s name was changed by an act of Parliament after the Shiv Sena-BJP government came to power in Maharashtra in 1995.

Uday Warunjikar, also a HC lawyer, said, “The government’s move is in consonance with the nationwide trend to preserve our cultural heritage. If the city’s name has been changed keeping in mind public sentiment then our institutions, too, should reflect that.”