Madras High Court to be rechristened as Chennai High Court : Union Law Minister

Union law minister Sri. D V SadanandaGowda said that the Government is considering the proposal to change name of Madras High Court as Chennai High Court. He made these remarks while he was addressing a Lawyers Meet-2015 organised by the Bar Council of India in Chennai. He did not elaborate much on this proposal, though he began his speech with these remarks  "I hope in the near future the Madras High Court will be called, Chennai High Court and we are working on it".The Minister also spoke on the proposed National Litigation policy, meant to curb frivolous cases by and against the Governments. He also pointed out that the Civil Procedure Code was amended with the aim of speeding up disposals and asked "Have we achieved it ?no..Why ?Where have we gone wrong ?We need to reflect and come up with solutions”. He also emphasised the need to resort to Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanisms.

Chennai, the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu, was formerly called Madras. It was in 1996, when it got rechristened to Chennai. There are multiple theories about the origin of “Chennai”, of which one says that it was derived from the name of a ruler DamalChennappaNayagar, a Nayakar of Vandavasi who served as a general under Sriranga Deva Raya of the Aravidu Dynasty.

The High Court of the state of Tamil Nadu, Madras High Court, is situated in its capital city itself. Madras High Court has a Madurai bench which has jurisdiction over 13 districts of the state.  Although, the name of the city was rechristened to Chennai, in 1996, the High Court continues to be called in its old name, just as in the case of Bombay High Court. Madras High Court was recently in news when it called upon the rape victim and the accused to settle the matter, the Court had recalled its order later. A few days ago a division bench of  Madras High Court had opined that defamation should be decriminalised.