Observing that the Supreme Court had in its order five years back held that the word 'Sindh' is correctly used in the national anthem, the Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the union government to clarify about the correct usage of the word.

A division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and R G Ketkar was hearing a public interest litigation challenging the use of the word 'Sindh' in the national anthem and seeking its replacement with 'Sindhu'.

According to the PIL filed by retired professor Shreekanth Malushte, the word 'Sindh' was replaced with 'Sindhu' in January 1950 by the Government of India.

The petitioner's counsel Niranjan Mogre pointed out to the high court that as per the information received by them from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the RTI, the correct version of the anthem includes the word 'Sindhu'.

"MHA claims it is Sindhu but Supreme Court in its judgment has quoted the national anthem and has used the word Sindh. As of now we are going as per the apex court's decision. Maybe MHA has made some mistake in its RTI reply," justice Desai remarked.

Directing the central government to look into the SC verdict before filing its reply, Justice Desai said, "You (government) better be careful. Its a matter of our national anthem."

According to the PIL, when the anthem was composed in 1917 by Rabindranath Tagore, "Sindh" was part of India but now it is in Pakistan.

However, "the national anthem continues to be sung and broadcast in a wrong manner by using incorrect words," it said.