Port Blair:

The Calcutta High Court’s Port Blair circuit bench has refused to interfere in the government’s decision to change the name of the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, saying it is the prerogative of the executive.

On September 13, the central government renamed Port Blair to Sri Vijaya Puram.

Hearing a petition challenging the renaming, a division bench comprising Justices Ravi Krishan Kapur and Prasenjit Biswas on Friday refused to intervene as it is the prerogative of the executive.

The court cited the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai to highlight the executive’s prerogative.

Advocate Prohit Mohan Lall who filed the petition then withdrew it.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said, “While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in India’s freedom struggle and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ unique role in it.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Centre on Friday renamed Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to Sri Vijaya Puram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the name Sri Vijaya Puram honours the “rich history and heroic people of Andaman and Nicobar islands”.

“It also reflects our commitment to break free from the colonial mindset and celebrate our heritage,” PM Modi posted on X.

Home Minister Amit Shah also took to his official X account and said, “While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same. Andaman & Nicobar Islands have an unparalleled place in our freedom struggle and history. The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations.”

Port Blair was originally named after Captain Archibald Blair, a British colonial naval officer.

Five Points About Archibald Blair:

1) Captain Archibald Blair joined the Bombay Marine, the naval force of the British East India Company, as a lieutenant in 1771. His naval career was largely defined by his work surveying and exploring remote regions under British control, particularly the Andaman Islands, between December 1788 and April 1789.

2) Captain Blair’s findings were presented to the British governor-general on June 12, 1789, and his reports played a key role in the British decision to colonise the islands.

3) During his expedition, Archibald Blair discovered a natural harbour in the southern part of Great Andaman Island, which he initially named Port Cornwallis, in honour of Commodore William Cornwallis, Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian Navy. This port was later renamed Port Blair in his honour.

4) Archibald Blair established the first British settlement on Chatham Island in 1789, where he oversaw the building of cottages and the clearing of forests. He recognised the strategic value of the harbour and ensured that it would serve as a key point for British operations in the area.

5) Despite his initial success, the settlement faced significant challenges, including disease and resistance from local tribes. The colony was eventually relocated to a new site, but this too ended in failure. Captain Blair returned to England in 1795. His work, however, laid the groundwork for the British presence in the Andaman Islands, which later became a penal colony in 1858, with the first prisoners being freedom fighters from the First War of Indian Independence.