MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday upheld the Tamil Nadu government’s move to remove caste names from public places and rename them after personalities who fought for social justice.

“Some of the names currently in use are so derogatory that they cannot even be uttered in this court. Therefore, changing their names is an appropriate action,” the court observed, while dismissing a petition filed by Paramasivam, the state vice-president of the Hindu Advocates Front, seeking a stay on a Government Order to remove caste names from public places.

The division bench comprising justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel said, “A change must occur in the mindset of the people. Bringing about the change through a GO is the only appropriate way.”

The court went on to observe that confusion would arise only in the minds of those who continued to retain caste names, while no confusion would arise among those who had removed caste identity from their minds. “They can identify names without caste identity and can also identify localities by those names,” the bench observed.

In its counter affidavit seeking to vacate the interim stay earlier granted by the court, the State government submitted that 445 municipalities, 24 corporations and 169 local bodies had passed resolutions to change the names of 69 residential areas, 40 roads, 109 streets, 57 water bodies and 23 other social infrastructure assets.

For instance, ‘Arundhathiyar Street’ in Namakkal has been renamed ‘Kamarajar Nagar’; ‘Irular Colony’ in Tiruvannamalai has been renamed ‘Kapilar Street’; and ‘Narikkuravar Colony’ in Ranipet has been renamed ‘Perarignar Anna Street’. Several other names have also been changed, it stated.

The counter affidavit also stated that the GO was issued with the objective of removing objectionable or derogatory caste names. It was aimed at promoting equality, eliminating caste-based discrimination and ensuring that public places are inclusive and caste-neutral. It stated that detailed guidelines had been issued for this purpose.

The court also directed the government to identify other localities left out of the present GO that need to be renamed and issue a fresh GO to rename them.

The judges urged residents to come forward and request the government to change the names of their localities

“This exercise should continue,” the judges said, and lifted the interim stay.