The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that changing the Hindi name of the Supreme Court metro station to Sarvoch Nyayalay would create a ripple effect, exposing the Delhi Metro to multiple litigations demanding similar reliefs and consequent financial burden. 

At present, the Supreme Court metro station is written as सुप्रीम कोर्ट (Supreme Court) in Devanagari script as well. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the High Court by one Umesh Sharma to change the Hindi name of the metro station to सर्वोच्च न्यायालय  (Sarvoch Nyayala).

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia had, on February 11 asked why the station cannot be named Sarvochh Nyayalay in Hindi when the Delhi University metro station's name is Vishwavidyalaya and the Central Secretariat metro station carries the Hindi name Kendriya Sachivalaya. 

Today, the counsel appearing for the metro said that the Delhi University metro station is named Vishwavidyalaya in English too and that renaming stations can cost around ₹40-45 lakh of public money. 

The counsel added that naming the metro stations is a policy decision. 

However, the Court said that the apprehension of multiple ligations cannot be a defence to ignore the mandate of the Official Languages Act. 

“We have to honour the Act. These are not the defences available to you to deny the application of the Act,” the Bench remarked. 

Ultimately, the Court ordered the DMRC to file its reply to the case and listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.