AMC should use 'Ahmedabad', instead of 'Amdavad': PIL

A Public Interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Gujarat High Court seeking a direction to the municipal body to use 'Ahmedabad' instead of 'Amdavad' in its official documents.

The Sunni Awami Forum, a trust, has stated in the PIL that the city got its name, 'Ahmedabad', from Ahmed Shah, who founded it in 1411, and the civic body be asked to use "correct" name in it official communication.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) uses the name 'Amdavad' in official documents, letterheads, advertisements, etc., in India and abroad, and uses 'chabutara' (a raised platform) as a symbol of the city in "blatant disregard of the city's highly significant Indo-Islamic architecture", the PIL says.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi today asked the petitioner to get more details on the process of naming a city before it issues notices to the AMC and the state government.

Using 'Amdavad' is also misleading for tourists who come from all over the world, the PIL has said.

Even the The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has recognised the name 'Ahmedabad' while declaring the city as a "World Heritage City", it said.

Further, despite abundant remains of the Islamic architecture dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries across the city, the AMC uses the image of a 'chabutara', a structure which originated in the 18th century, as its symbol, the PIL said.

It is in "great disregard to the history of Ahmedabad as a significant part of city's history and resulting architecture stands excluded," it said.