No consensus on renaming University of Madras

Law Department insists on changing the name; A-G says not necessary and cites the law passed in 1923

The State government has received contradictory legal opinion on renaming the University of Madras as University of Chennai. The move to rename the university was initiated after the Law Department advised the government on this citing the City of Madras (Alteration of Name) Act, 1996 passed by the Legislative Assembly by which name of the city was changed from Madras to Chennai. The government had sought legal opinion on the issue and received contradictory views. The Syndicate of the university on September 6, 2002, rejected a suggestion to rename the varsity as University of Chennai. However, the Law Department said the university had to be renamed as stipulated under the 1996 Act. Following this, the university requested the State government to take steps to retain the original name. Acting upon this request, the Higher Education department sent the file again to the Law Department for its remarks and the latter, in turn, reiterated its stand that the name University of Madras would have to be changed with effect from September 30, 1996 when the name of the city was altered.