Sonal Bhargava | Prabhat Bandhulya
The Bombay High Court in the case of Naee Roshni Social Organisation vs MMRDA & Anr. on Thursday asked a petitioner to deposit ₹1 lakh as pre-condition for hearing a petition challenging the change of name of a metro station in Mumbai from ‘Pathanwadi’ to Dindoshi The petition, filed by Naee Roshni Social Organisation through counsel Altaf Khan, challenged a Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) ruling dated January 21, 2020 that altered station names on Mumbai Metro lines 2A and 7. When the case came up for hearing, a bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik instructed the petitioner to deposit one lakh as a pre-condition, which he consented to. The case will now be heard once the petitioner has paid the fee. The renaming of the 'Pathanwadi' Metro Station to 'Dindoshi' was reported to be in direct contravention of the MMRDA's own naming guideline. When there are more than two stations in a revenue village, the nearby Wadi's name is considered for one of the stations, according to MMRDA policy. The revenue village of Malad, on the other hand, has three stops, two on line 2A and one on line 7. The station on line 7 was formerly known as 'Pathanwadi' by MMRDA. According to the petitioner, the name of the 'Pathanwadi' station was changed to 'Dindoshi' due to undue political pressure and requests from two MLAs, Atul Bhatkhalkar and Sunil Prabhu. MMRDA admitted in records obtained under the RTI Act that 'Dindoshi' is the name of a nearby revenue wadi, not the nearest Wadi, according to the petition. The renaming of the station, it was argued, was arbitrary and hurt the feelings of residents of 'Pathanwadi,' and thereby violated Article 14 of the Constitution.