A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court to change the name of the country from India to Bharat/ Hindustan [Namaha vs Union Of India & Ors.]..In response to the plea, the Central government lawyer sought time from Delhi High Court to take instructions from the relevant authorities.Justice Sachin Datta, who heard the matter on February 4, allowed the request and deferred the hearing in the matter.“At the outset, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 1 and 4 who appears on advance notice seeks some time to take instructions,” the Court stated while posting the matter for further consideration on March 12..The petitioner, one Namaha, has sought directions to amend Article 1 of the Constitution and rename the country from India/ Bharat to Bharat/ Hindustan. “Amend Article I of the Constitution of India, which presently states, India that is BHARAT, to henceforth state, BHARAT/HINDUSTAN as a Union of States,” the plea has prayed.The petitioner had first approached the Supreme Court in 2020 seeking the same. At that time, apex court had refused to entertain the plea but directed that his petition be treated as a representation to the Centre. In 2021, the petitioner filed an application under Right to Information Act to ascertain the pendency and status of his representation. Since no satisfactory answer was received, the petitioner has now moved the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Centre to decide his representation as was directed by the Supreme Court in 2020.“That it is necessary to point out that the English name “India” does not represent the culture and tradition of the country, renaming it to “Bharat” would help citizen shed colonial baggage,” the petition states..The petitioner has made the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice and Secretary Generals of both the Houses of the Parliament parties to this petition.The petition was filed through advocate Ashutosh Thakur..Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sagar along with Advocates Ashutosh Thakur, Aabhas Parmal appeared for the petitioner. Central Government Standing Counsel Nidhi Raman along with Government Pleader Arnav Mittal and Zubin Singh appeared for the Centre.Advocates Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Sugam Kumar Jha, Trbhuvan, Raghav Tandon and Mahesh Baluni appeared for the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha.Advocate Pramod Gupta appeared for the Secretary General of Lok Sabha.[Read Order]
