Maharashtra govt issues notification on change of names of Aurangabad, Osmanabad districts

Representational picture. File Photo/PTI

The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has issued a notification on the change of names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad districts as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

The suggestions and objections sought a few months ago have been considered and the decision to change the names at the sub-division, village, taluka and district levels has been taken, the notification issued by the Revenue Department on Friday night said.

The decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad was taken in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's last cabinet meeting chaired by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 29, 2022 just before he resigned.

However, Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who were sworn in a day later, had said the Thackeray-led dispensation's decision to rename these places was illegal as it was taken by it after the governor had asked it to prove majority in the state assembly.

In July last year, the Shinde government gave a cabinet approval to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

In the MVA government's last cabinet meeting, Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar, but the Shinde government added 'Chhatrapati' prefix to it.

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Earlier in February, additional solicitor-general Anil Singh informed the Bombay High Court that the central government had no objection to renaming Osmanabad. However, there was no decision yet on renaming Aurangabad, he submitted. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne was then hearing pleas challenging a decision to rename the two cities.

In the late 1980s, Aurangabad became one of the major cities outside the Mumbai-Thane belt that the Sena had set its eyes on. The city's 30 per cent Muslim population made it a fertile ground for polarisation. Soon after the riots that killed over 25 people, in 1988, the Sena won the elections to the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation.

On May 8, 1988, the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray announced the renaming of the city as Sambhaji Nagar after Sambhaji, Shivaji's son who was killed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1995, the corporation passed a resolution to do so, and the Shiv-Sena led government issued a notification seeking suggestions on and objections to the plan.

The notification was challenged in the high court by then AMC corporator (of the Congress) Mushtaq Ahmed. While the plea was dismissed by the court stating that no decision had been taken, the renaming had remained a contentious issue and resurfaced ahead of every election.

Both the BJP and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had been criticising the Sena for its failure to rename the city. Its MVA allies, the Congress and the NCP, have not been too keen to rename the city.

In March 2020, as a placatory gesture, the MVA government cleared a proposal to rename Aurangabad airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport.