Delhi High Court rejects PIL to replace 'Central Government' with 'Union Government' in laws, communications

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to replace the term ‘Central Government’ with ‘Union Government’ in all laws, legislations and official communications [Atmaram Saraogi v Union of India]..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna remarked that the terms Union of India, Union Government or Central Government are used interchangeably and there appears to be nothing wrong with that. "It does not matter how you address them (government). We have far more important matters to deal with," the Court remarked.It added that Supreme Court of India is also referred to as the Apex Court. “Please understand. We call the Supreme Court of India, Supreme Court and Apex Court as well. This is not a case for a PIL... These terms are used interchangeably,” the Court remarked.It then proceeded to dismiss the plea and said that a detailed order will be passed. .An 84-year-old social activist Atmaram Saraogi had filed the PIL arguing that under the Constitution, India is a "Union of States” and there cannot be any concept of a ‘Central Government’ as it existed under the British Raj.The plea sought striking down the definition of Central Government as defined in the General Clauses Act as being ultra vires the Constitution.“Article 1 of the Constitution of India used the words ‘The Union and its Territory’ and states that “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”. Interestingly, the terms ‘Centre’ or ‘Central Government’ have consciously not been used in any of the 395 articles divided in 22 parts and/or in eight schedules of the Constitution of India,” the plea stated..The first references to 'Centre' or 'Central Government' happen only in amendments made from 2012 onwards, the Court was told.The petition said that from a Constitutional perspective, the usage of the word ‘Centre’ signifies that the ‘Central Government’ is the Centre of authority giving the wrong impression that the State Governments are subservient or subordinate to the Union Government which was not the intention of the framers of the Constitution, the PIL argued.“In other words, the word ‘Centre’ indicates a point in the middle of the circle giving a sense of a Federal Government, whereas ‘Union’ refers to the Whole Circle and denotes a sense of Unitary Government,” the petition said.The petition also quoted Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. BR Ambedkar to state that according to our founding fathers, usage of ‘Union of States’ would signify and rightly portray that ‘the federation is Union because it is indestructible’.