Delhi High Court Grants Time To Centre On A Plea Seeking Replacement Of Word India With 'Bharat' Or 'Hindustan'

The Delhi High Court has granted time to the Centre on a Writ Petition seeking to direct the Government to decide on a representation for amending the Constitution and replacing the word India with 'Bharat' or 'Hindustan'.

A Single Bench of Justice Sachin Datta said, "At the outset, counsel for the respondent nos. 1 and 4 (Centre) who appears on advance notice seeks some time to take instructions."

Earlier, the Petitioner Namaha had approached the Apex Court seeking such a direction to the Centre. In 2020, the Court directed that the Petition be treated as a representation and may be considered by the appropriate Ministries.

Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sagar represented the Petitioner while CGSC Nidhi Raman represented the Respondents.

The Petition before the High Court read, "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 Petition claimed that the English name 'India' does not represent the culture and tradition of the country and renaming it to 'Bharat' would help citizens shed "colonial baggage". It further sought to amend 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 Petitioner claimed that 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", said the plea.

Accordingly, the High Court listed the case for further hearing on March 12, 2025

Cause Title- Namaha v. Union of India & Ors.

Appearance:

Petitioner: Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sagar, Advocates Ashutosh Thakur, and Aabhas Parmal.

Respondents: CGSC Nidhi Raman, GP Arnav Mittal, Advocates Zubin Singh, Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Sugam Kumar Jha, Trbhuvan, Raghav Tandon, Mahesh Baluni, and Pramod Gupta.

Click here to read/download the Order

With PTI Inputs