Madras high court allows Madurai MP's plea seeking reply from Centre in English alone

MADURAI: Allowing a plea moved by Madurai MP Su Venkatesan who sought a direction to the Centre to ensure that all communications between the Centre and Tamil Nadu and its people be in English alone, the Madras high court on Thursday directed the Centre to strictly follow the provisions of the Official Languages Act.
A division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice M Duraiswamy observed that once a representation is given in English, it is the duty of the Centre to send a reply only in English as the same would be in consonance with the provisions of the Official Languages Act.
The judges observed that this is an era of communication and information. A few languages in the country are thousands of years old and many are 100 years old. The governments should take steps for preservation and development of all languages.
The judges observed that one could understand the importance of languages as the states were reorganised based on languages. Referring to Article 350 of the Constitution, the judges observed that an individual is entitled to submit his representations to any official in the Centre or states in any of the languages used in India.
Su Venkatesan had moved court after he received a Hindi reply from the ministry of state for home affairs to a representation he sent seeking to set up exam centres for the CRPF paramedical recruitment drive in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry last year.
The Centre submitted that the reply was sent to the MP in Hindi inadvertently and it was not intentional. The Centre further submitted that there would not be any violation to the Official Languages Act and the Official Language Rules in the future.
Recording the Centre's submissions, the judges directed the Centre, its officials and other instrumentalities to strictly follow the provisions of the Act and Rules.