The West Bengal Capital City ( Change Of Name ) Act, 2001

Short title 
and 
commence-
ment. 
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL 
LAW DEPARTMENT 
Legislative 
West Bengal Act XVIII of 2001' 
THE WEST BENGAL CAPITAL CITY 
(CHANGE OF NAME) ACT, 2001. 
[Passed by the West Bengal Legislature.) 
[Assent of the Governor was first published in the Calcutta Gazette, 
Extraordinary, of the 28th August, 20011 
An Act to alter the name of the Capital City of the State of West 
Bengal, C ilcutta. 
WHEREAS it is expedient to change the name of the City of Calcutta and 
to give effect to the changed name, Kolkata,in place of Calcutta, so far and 
so long accepted universally in any law or document or instrument, on any 
structure, building, monument, road, lake, ground or any object of public 
importance or any other instrument having the force of law; 
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to rename 'Calcutta' as Kolkata' in 
consideration of the historical, social and cultural aspect of this State and 
its Capital City; 
It is hereby enacted in the Fifty-second Year of the Republic of India, 
by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:— 
1. (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Capital City (Change 
of Name) Act, 2001. 
(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 
1st day of January, 2001. 
'For proceedings of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, see the proceedings of the 
meeting of that Assembly held on the 30th July, 2001. 
199 
The West Bengal Capital City (Change of Name) Act, 2001. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Sections 2-5.) 
Definitions. 	 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 
(1) "Approved Spelling" means the spelling as stated in 
section 3; 
(2). "Calcutta" means the name of the Capital City of the State of 
West Bengal prior to the commencement of this Act; 
(3) "Kolkata" means the name of the Capital City of the State of 
West Bengal on and from the date of commencement of this 
Act; 
(4) "Law" includes any enactment, ordinance, regulation, order, 
rule, scheme, notification, bye-law or other instrument having 
the force of law in the whole or any part of the State. 
Spelling. 
Substitution 
of the name 
of Calcutta 
to Kolkata. 
The word 
`Calcutta' to 
be read as 
`Kolkata'. 
3. Approved spelling of the name of the Capital City of the State of 
West Bengal shall be described as follows:— 
Bengali 	 Roman 	 Devanagari 
<PG-taftt 	 Kolkata 	 rialicti 
4. The name of the Capital City of the State of West Bengal, Calcutta 
shall on and from the date of commencement of this Act be known as 
Kolkata. 
5. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time 
being in force, the word 'Calcutta' occurring in any Act, Ordinance, Order, 
bye-law, rule, regulation, notification, custom or usage or other 
instrument having the force of law shall be read as `Kolkata' having the 
boundaries of 'Calcutta' as defined in sub-section (9) of section 2 of the 
Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act, 1980. 
West Ben. 
Act LIX of 
1980. 
200 
The West Bengal Capital City (Change of Name) Act, 2001. 
XVIII of 2001.] 
Statement of Objects and Reasons on the West Bengal Capital City 
(Change of Name) Bill, 2001 (Bill No. 25 of 2001). 
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS -  AND REASONS. 
Consequent upon an all-party resolution adopted by our Legislative 
Assembly, the State Government made out a proposal to the Government 
of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs to rename 'Calcutta' as `Kolkata 
On receipt of 'No objection' from the Government of India, the State 
Government decided to bring about the change in the name of 'Calcutta' 
with effect from the 1st day of January, 2001, and issued a notification to 
that effect. The said notification was published in an Extraordinary issue 
of the Calcutta Gazette being No. 376-Home (Cons.) dated, Calcutta, the 
27th December, 2000. 
2. The State Government now considers that a legislation should 
be made in order to give effect to the changed name Kolkata' in place of 
`Calcutta', so far and so long accepted universally in any law or document 
or instrument or on any structure, building, monument, road, lake, ground 
or any object of public importance or any other instrument having the force 
of law. 
3. The Bill has been framed with the above objects in view. 
KOLKATA, 	 BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARIEE, 
The 23rd July, 2001. 	 Member-in-charge. 
201 

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