Submit documentary evidence to establish govt's move in this regard: Gujarat High Court to petitioner
The controversy over the proposed change of city's name from Ahmedabad to Karnavati on Wednesday reached the Gujarat High Court, with a public interest litigation (PIL) being filed over the issue pleading that the court should restrain the state government from doing so.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav, however, clarified that the court is not inclined to entertain the petition unless the petitioner—Hetvi Sancheti—produces any documentary evidence which indicates that the state government is considering a name change for Ahmedabad.
The court after patiently listening to the arguments of Sancheti said it cannot entertain the petition based on the verbal claims of politicians. Interestingly, Sancheti had submitted that chief minister Vijay Rupani had openly declared in a public forum that the city will be re-christened as 'Karnavati' before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
Sancheti, a lawyer, who appeared as party-in-person, has prayed before the court to direct the state, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and the union government, to recognise the name 'Ahmedabad' as "Intangible cultural heritage" and frame policies for safeguarding the same as per Article 11 and 13 of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (CICH), 2003, of which India is a signatory. Also, it is the petitioner's demand that the authorities should be directed not to change the city's name.
She claimed that the issue of the name change has cropped up time and again in the past and the only permanent solution to the problem is to declare the name 'Ahmedabad' as an "Intangible Cultural Heritage" and frame policies for safeguarding the same.
The advocate said that the change of name will also affect the city's heritage tag granted by UNESCO. It was submitted that the historical evidence as published by the state government and submitted to the UNESCO clearly mentions that the city of Ahmedabad was founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah and the name 'Karnavati' is reflected nowhere. The advocate also claimed that there are no domestic laws or policies in place for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
FACT BOX
- The petitioner has also submitted that no historical data warrants such a name change and it is being done as a means of “divisive vote bank politics” by the government before the Lok Sabha polls.
- Meanwhile, the state government has put the proposal on a back-burner after receiving flak for its attempt to change the city’s name.
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