Delhi HC asks Centre to follow SC order on plea to rename India as Bharat

The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to expeditiously comply with an order of the Supreme Court for considering a representation for amending the Constitution and replacing the word India with "Bharat" or "Hindustan".

Justice Sachin Datta also allowed the petitioner to withdraw his petition in this regard.

The order passed on March 12 said, "After some hearing, senior counsel for the petitioner seeks to withdraw the present petition with leave to pursue the matter with the ministries concerned for disposal of the petitioner's representation in terms of the order dated June 3, 2020 passed by the Supreme Court...the present petition stands dismissed as withdrawn."  The Centre's counsel should appropriately convey to the ministries concerned for expeditious compliance of the order passed by the Supreme Court, it added.

The petitioner had initially moved the Supreme Court, which in 2020, directed the petition be treated as a representation that could be considered by appropriate ministries.

Petitioner Namaha, represented by senior advocate Sanjeev Sagar, then moved the high court for a direction to the authorities to decide his representation. 

"The petitioner is left with no option but to approach this court, by way of the present petition as there is no update from the respondents about any decision taken on the representation of the petitioner," the plea said.

It said the English name "India" did not represent the culture and tradition of the country and renaming it to "Bharat" would help citizens shed the "colonial baggage".

The plea, therefore, sought amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which deals with the name and territory of the Union.

Referring to the 1948 Constituent assembly debate on Article 1 of the then draft constitution, the plea said even at that time there was a "strong wave" in favour of naming the country as "Bharat" or "Hindustan".

"However, now the time is ripe to recognise the country by its original and authentic name, i.e., Bharat especially when our cities have been renamed to identify with the Indian ethos," it added.