'No public interest': Bombay HC dismisses PIL to rename Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda
India Today
A public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking changes to the names of Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda was dismissed by the Bombay High Court.
A public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking changes to the names of Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda was dismissed by the Bombay High Court.
The Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik found that the issues raised in the petition did not contain any public interest whatsoever and proceeded to dismiss the plea.
“We are more than satisfied that there is no semblance of public interest, much less substantial public interest involved in entertaining the PIL petition. We fail to appreciate as to how this PIL petition aims at redressal of genuine public harm or public injury,” said the bench.
The PIL was filed seeking a change of names of some banks.
The petition was filed by a petitioner in person, Onkar Sharma, who claimed to be working as a Senior Internal Auditor in Punjab National Bank (PNB) and posted in Mumbai. It was averred that the PNB was established on May 19, 1894, while the Bank of Baroda was established on July 20, 1908. Both banks were initially set up as private sector banks but were later nationalised in 1969.
The petitioner claimed that the name of the banks was creating confusion for a number of citizens in remote areas and they were still unsure if these banks were regional or national/international banks.
The petitioner, therefore, prayed that the words 'Punjab' and 'Baroda' should not be used for the banks' names.
