SC throws out petition challenging TN govt order on Tamil

New Delhi, Feb 18 (UNI) The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a petition challenging Tamil Nadu government order dated June 12, 2006 making Tamil compulsory for schools in the state.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran dismissed the petition filed by Kanyakumari District Malayala Samajan and Kanyakumari District Nair Service Society challenging the order of Tamil Nadu government under the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act 2006 making Tamil language compulsory in the schools for students from standard 1st to 10th.

The state government has decided to implement its order in a phased manner and in the first phase the order was implemented for primary students for the academic year 2006-07 and then from 2007-08 it will be made applicable upto 10th standard.

Madras High Court had dismissed the petition on August 23, 2007.

The petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of the Act on the grounds that it violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners who are linguistic minorities in Tamil Nadu and they cannot be forced to give up their rights of imparting education to their children in their mother tongue namely Malayalam.

The petitioners have also contended that the Act is contrary to the mandate of article 350-A of the Constitution which says that it shall be the endeavour of every state to provide adequate facilities for instructions in the mother tongue at the primary level of education.

UNI AKS/SC SY RP DS1450