‘Publicity Interest Litigation’: Orissa High Court Rejects Plea to Rename Cuttack

The Orissa High Court recently dismissed a PIL seeking to rename the city of “Cuttack” as “Katak”, calling it a “publicity interest litigation” filed with a “sinister motive to gain popularity.”

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Murahari Sri Raman observed that decisions regarding renaming cities fall within the exclusive domain of the Government and courts should not interfere in such policy matters under Article 226.

The Court also noted that similar petitions on the same issue had already been dismissed earlier.

Finding no genuine element of public interest, the Court dismissed the PIL and imposed costs of ₹10,000 on the petitioner.

[Srujeet Khuntia v. State of Odisha]