HC dismisses plea against renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday upheld the state government’s decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities and revenue areas as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively. Osmanabad is now known as Dharashiv “We have no hesitation to conclude that the impugned Notifications issued by the State Government renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv cities.do not suffer from any illegality or any other legal vice,” said the division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Arif S Doctor while dismissing a bunch of petitions challenging the decisions. “If an authority is empowered under the statutory provisions to name a revenue area, there cannot be any reason to deny such power to the same authority for altering or changing its name.” Regarding renaming the cities, the court said there was no statutory framework for regulating naming cities or towns and changing their names, as neither the law regulating municipal corporations or municipal councils contained any provision regulating naming the cities or towns and changing their names. Advocate general Dr Birendra Saraf representing the state government opposed the petitions stating that there was no question of violation of fundamental rights of any citizen, as changing the name of revenue areas or that of a city or town is not at all concerned with the rights of citizens.