Delhi HC questions DMRC on Hindi name for Supreme Court Metro station

The Delhi High Court questioned the DMRC for not using the Hindi translation 'Sarvochh Nyayalay' for the Supreme Court Metro station. Hearing a PIL, the court directed the DMRC to clarify its stand, citing other translated station names.

Court Questions DMRC on Hindi Name

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to take instructions and clarify its stand on whether the Hindi name of the Supreme Court Metro station could be displayed as "Sarvochh Nyayalay".

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed the counsel appearing for the DMRC to obtain instructions from the authorities on the issue and place their position before the Court. The Bench noted that several other stations have been translated into Hindi, and questioned why a similar approach could not be followed in this case. The Court noted that the Delhi University Metro station is written as "Vishwavidyalaya" and Central Secretariat as "Kendriya Sachivalaya" in Hindi. "You will let your officials know that if Central Secretariat can be translated into Hindi and Delhi University can be translated, Supreme Court cannot be inscribed as 'Sarvochh Nyayalay'," the Bench remarked. The matter has been listed for further hearing on February 19.

During the proceedings, the counsel for DMRC submitted that the name of the Supreme Court Metro station had been inscribed as proposed by the Supreme Court.

Details of the Public Interest Litigation

The directions came while the Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Umesh Sharma. According to the plea, the existing Pragati Maidan Metro station was later renamed as Supreme Court, but the Hindi display uses the transliteration" instead of the proper Devanagari translation The petition states that "Sarvochh Nyayalay" is the correct Hindi translation and that the failure to adopt it contravenes the mandate of the Official Languages framework. It claims that the petitioner requested the authorities to have the name translated through the Central Translation Bureau under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a specialised agency for such purposes, but the request was not acted upon.

The plea further refers to Article 343 of the Constitution, which mandates the use of Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union, and the Official Languages Act, 1963, along with the Official Language Rules, 1976, which lay down conditions for the use of Hindi in government establishments.

According to the petition, the petitioner had also written to the concerned authorities seeking correction and translation of the name in accordance with statutory provisions. However, since no steps were taken, the present petition was filed.

Petitioner's Demands

In the prayer, the petitioner has sought a direction to the DMRC to have the name "Supreme Court" translated by the competent authority and renamed in accordance with the Official Languages Act. The plea also seeks directions to ensure compliance with the language laws and to take appropriate action against officials for any alleged violation of statutory provisions. (ANI)

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