The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre over a PIL against Hindi and Sanskrit school prayers being recited in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools.

The PIL has been filed by a teacher and questions whether a government-aided institution can promote a certain religion by making students recite certain prayers.

In May 2017, the apex court had refused to direct the Union government, the states and Union territories to make Hindi compulsory for students of classes I to VIII across the country to promote "national unity".

The court had noted that advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who had petitioned it for this directive, was also spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit.

A bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul had asked, “Why does he not ask his party to do it? He belongs to the governing party. He is part of the government.”

The bench had said people speaking other languages may also start asking why their languages are not being taught and added that the government could look into it.

With inputs from PTI


Published Date: Jan 10, 2018 12:29 PM | Updated Date: Jan 10, 2018 12:29 PM