Union Cabinet approves The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016

The Union Cabinet, presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 5 July 2016 gave green signal to introduce The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 in Parliament.

The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 will facilitate the changing of the names of Bombay High Court as Mumbai High Court and Madras High Court as Chennai High Court respectively.

The bill is the proposal of the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

About Bombay High Court

• Bombay High Court is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• It was inaugurated on 14 August 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861.

• It is one of the oldest High Courts of India with jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra, Goa, and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

• The High Court has regional branches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji in Goa.

• Since India's Independence, 22 judges from this court have been elevated to the Supreme Court and 8 of them have been Chief Justice of India.

About Madras High Court

• Madras High Court is located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

• The court is one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by Letters patent granted by Queen Victoria.

Background

• The High Courts of Bombay and Madras were named after the cities in which they were located.

• There have been demands for change in the names of these High Courts, after the cities were rechristened in the 1990s.

• Currently, there is no Central Law under which the proposal for change of names of these High Courts can be addressed.

• British India's three presidency towns of Madras , Bombay and Calcutta were each granted a High Court by letters patent dated 26 June 1862. The letters patent were issued by Queen Victoria under the authority of the British parliament's Indian High Courts Act 1861.

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