HC dismisses plea seeking direction to Delhi govt to remove words 'Aam Aadmi' from its schemes

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a PIL seeking change or removal of words "Aam Aadmi" from Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic and Aam Aadmi Polyclinics, saying it was government's exclusive domain to name a scheme and courts cannot interfere with it.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao declined to hear the Public Interest Litigation, which had alleged that the AAP-led Delhi government was taking undue advantage by using the words in its schemes.

The petitioner had claimed that by using the words, the AAP dispensation was trying to suggest to the voters of the national capital that the schemes are not of Delhi Government, but of Aam Aadmi Party.

The plea also stated that the Delhi government had issued a few schemes with the same nomenclature, but had renamed them as 'Mukhiya Mantri Healthcard' and 'Express Bus Service', and sought parity with those schemes.

To this, the bench said, "the present petition which has been filed as a PIL per se is not maintainable and also the decision of the respondent to re-name the schemes in the manner in which they have done is beyond the scope of judicial review. We do not find any merit in the petition, the petition is dismissed."