Lawyers demanding use of Tamil in Madras High Court proceedings, have expressed surprise over the Centre’s decision to rename it as Chennai High Court and not Tamil Nadu High Court, despite a specific recommendation made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice.
In its 84th report on Demands for Grants (2016-17) of the Ministry of Law and Justice, presented in the Rajya Sabha on April 26, the Committee, led by its chairman E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, had recommended renaming of Madras High Court, Bombay High Court and Calcutta High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court, Maharashtra High Court and Kolkata High Court respectively.
Citing the report, advocate G. Bhagavath Singh, who spearheaded several agitations, including a relay fast inside the Madras High Court Bench building here in 2010, 2013 and 2014 demanding use of Tamil in High Court proceedings, said that it was surprising that the Centre had chosen to rename the High Courts in the names of capital cities where they were located and not the State.
“All other High Courts in the country such as those in Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat are named only after the States in which they are located. Therefore, it would be appropriate to rename Madras High Court only as Tamil Nadu High Court and call the Bench here as Madurai Bench of Tamil Nadu High Court. It would be inappropriate to call the latter as Madurai Bench of Chennai High Court,” he said.
Concurring with him, advocate C. Ezhilarasu referred to pamphlets printed by protesting lawyers during their agitations since 2010 to drive home his point that they had been consistently demanding renaming of Madras High Court only as Tamil Nadu High Court and not Chennai High Court.
Plaque
“A plaque placed in 1970 on the pedestal of former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai’s statue on the district court campus here referred to the then Madras High Court judge P.R. Gokulakrishnan as Judge of Tamil Nadu High Court. The plaque is there even now for every one to see and this fortifies the longstanding demand of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court,” he added.
“All other High Courts in the country such as those in Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat are named only after the States”
