Mumbai, Feb 27 (PTI) The Bombay High Court was on Monday informed that the Union government has approved the proposal to change the name of Aurangabad city to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

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A division bench of Acting Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne was hearing two public interest litigations challenging the government's decision to the name change.

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The bench was informed about the Centre's approval and the notification issued in this regard by the Maharashtra government.

The HC then permitted the petitioner to challenge the notification by amending his plea.

The state government had, on July 16 last year, approved the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively.

One petition filed by Aurangabad residents Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed, Annasaheb Khandare and Rajesh More challenged the government's decision to rename Aurangabad, while another PIL was filed by 17 residents of Osmanabad against it being renamed as Dharashiv.

Both the petitions termed the government's decision as "politically motivated".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)