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SC seeks Maharashtra stand on imposition of Marathi language
New Delhi, Sept 24: In a matter which could have a bearing on the policy of state governments in promoting regional languages, the supreme court today asked Maharashtra to clarify its stand regarding its policy decision to make Marathi a compulsory language in school education
New Delhi, Sept 24: In a matter which could have a
bearing on the policy of state governments in promoting
regional languages, the supreme court today asked Maharashtra
to clarify its stand regarding its policy decision to make
Marathi a compulsory language in school education
Hearing petitions by linguistic minority communities
challenging the decision to make Marathi a compulsory subject
for students of class five onwards, a bench comprising Justice
M B Shah, Justice A R Lakshmanan and Justice G P Mathur gave
three weeks time to the state government to file its response.
The bench said pursuant to a 1996 interim order of the
court, the state government had amended its policy and allowed
the minority linguistic community to study their language
along with Marathi.
It asked the counsel for Maharashtra to state whether the
amended policy was to be followed by the state government or
it wanted to pursue its Marathi compulsory policy.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Jatin Javeri pointed out that the grievance of the linguistic minority was that in English medium schools, the minority community students as per the policy decision were required to forego their mother tongue and take up Marathi.
The Bombay High Court had upheld the policy decision saying the Marathi compulsory policy was uniformly enforced in English medium schools.
Bureau Report
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Jatin Javeri pointed out that the grievance of the linguistic minority was that in English medium schools, the minority community students as per the policy decision were required to forego their mother tongue and take up Marathi.
The Bombay High Court had upheld the policy decision saying the Marathi compulsory policy was uniformly enforced in English medium schools.
Bureau Report