Allahabad HC turns down plea to rename itself

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a plea to rename itself either as the Prayagraj High Court or the Uttar Pradesh High Court.

A Lucknow bench of the high court dismissed the lawsuit, filed in the form a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), terming it as a 'publicity stunt litigation'.

The petition, filed by advocate Ashok Pandey, was dismissed by a bench comprising Justice PK Jaiswal and Justice DK Singh.

The petitioner had raised the plea to rename the high court on the ground that the state government had renamed Allahabad district as Prayagraj on October 16, 2018.

In its recent order, the bench said renaming a district is within the powers of the Legislature under the Constitutional scheme and, hence, it cannot interfere in the issue.

The high court, however, restrained itself from imposing cost on the petitioner for filing 'unnecessary' petition, saying the petitioner was a practicing lawyer of the court.