Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Demand to name Madras HC as High Court of Tamilnadu and Puducherry!

Yesterday (16th Feb) I issued a press statement on behalf of  Federation for People’s Rights (FPR), Puducherry. We urge the Puducherry Government to adopt a resolution in the coming assembly session urging the Union Government to change the proposed name of Madras High Court as High Court of Tamilnadu and Puducherry as is followed while naming the Punjab High Court as of High Court of Punjab and Haryana.

The Central Government recently announced to change the name of Madras High Court as High Court of Chennai and taking steps to enact an act in the ensuing Parliament session. In 1996 the name of Madras city was changed as Chennai. But unfortunately the High Court name remained unchanged and remained as High Court of Madras itself. The Lawyers community at that time demanded to change the name which ended in vain.

We point out that during the pre independence period three Chartered High Courts were formed in Kolkata, Mumbai and Madras. The British Government named these High Courts by the name of the cities itself. It is understandable that the names of these Courts are not changed even after independence. It is surprising that after the names of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras are changed as Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai respectively, the High Courts are continued to be called in the same name itself. Under this context, we welcome the move of the Union Government to change the names of High Courts despite of the fact that it should have been done long back.

We heard that there is a demand to change the name as Tamilnadu High Court instead of the proposed name. After naming the state as Tamilnadu the demand is just and logical. It is highly worthy at this juncture to remember the great patriot Sundaralingam who sacrificed his life to get the name ‘Tamilnadu.’

Puducherry as a Union Territory comes under the direct control of High Court of Madras. Puducherry have a unique identity and distinct culture with the profound impact of the French culture. Expressing the ambition of the Puducherry people we request your good office to name the High Court of Madras as High Court of Tamilnadu and Puducherry, as is being adopted in case of naming Punjab High Court as Punjab and Haryana High court, when its jurisdiction has been extends to two states.

To add muscle to our contention we would like to draw the logical precedence of the case of Punjab High court. It is known to one and all that the States Re-organisation Act, 1966, brought another State Haryana by carving out from Punjab which came into existence from November 1st, 1966. From the date of enforcement of the said Act, the High Court of Punjab was renamed as 'the High Court of Punjab and Haryana'.

In this regard,  we have sent a memorandum to the President of India, Prime Minister, Law Minister, Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Madras High Court and Tamilnadu Chief Minister to consider our demand. Also we sent letters to all the Political Parties of Puducherry to raise this issue.

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