Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Challenging Renaming Of Aurangabad As 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar'; Asks Petitioner To Approach HC

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition challenging the renaming of the city of Aurangabad to 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar' stating that the matter had been seized of by the High Court of Bombay. The matter was listed before a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala.

The plea challenged the approval granted by the Union of India and the State of Maharashtra to the letter of the Divisional Commissioner, Aurangabad dated 4 March 2020 which proposed that the name of the city of Aurangabad be changed to 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar'. However, when the Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, appearing for State of Maharashtra informed the court that the matter was listed before the Bombay High Court on 27th March 2023,  the court decided that it would not entertain the plea. 

Advocate Fuzail Ayyubi argued–

"Mr Sibal is appearing in the matter now. Please take it up on Monday."

However, the court was not inclined to take up the matter. CJI DY Chandrachud said–

"Appear before the Bombay High Court now. The High Court is seized of the matter."

As per the petitioner, he had challenged a similar attempt of renaming Aurangabad in 1996. The petition stated that the said matter travelled up to the Supreme Court, leave was granted, and status quo was ordered by the court. However, the notification was later withdrawn by the state government and thus the matter became infructuous. The petition argued that the present attempt to rename the city was again challenged by him through a PIL which was pending in the High Court of Bombay. However, ignoring the pendency of the petition, the Union of India granted approval to the proposed change in the name of city.

The petition added–

"On the very same day, 24.02.2023, the State of Maharashtra also issued notifications officially changing the name of City Aurangabad, Taluka and District – Aurangabad, Maharashtra to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Taluka and District – Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Further, on the same day, the state government further issued a notification under Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, calling for objections to draft notification renaming the revenue divisions of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar."

Case Title: Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed v. State of Maharashtra | SLP(C) No. 5664/2023

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