The High Court of Karnataka said that, at this stage, the government cannot insist on making Kannada a compulsory language for first-year under-graduate courses from this academic year.
The court, on December 16, gave liberty to students to select languages of their choice while asking both the State Government and universities not to compel students to choose Kannada as one of the languages for the present academic year.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the interim order while hearing a PIL petition filed by Samskrita Bharati Karnataka Trust, Bengaluru and others, and another petition filed by Shivakumar K.G. and other students.
The petitioners have challenged the State’s policy of making Kannada a compulsory language for UG courses from this academic year ‘on the pretext of implementing NEP 2020’.
“Prima facie, we are of the view that the matter of making Kannada a compulsory language in higher education on the basis of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a question which requires consideration. As such, the State Government at this stage shall not insist on making Kannada language compulsory,” the court said in its order.
Though the bench had on December 13 directed the State Government and universities not to precipitate the matter, advocate for the petitioner-students Sridhar Prabhu pointed out that they were unable to opt for languages of their choice for the present academic year.
Advocate-General Prabhuling K. Navadgi said that the petitioner-students should not face any difficulty in pursuing Kannada language in the first-year UG course as records show that all of them had studied Kannada as one of the language till their II-year pre-university course.
The A-G also said that already four lakh students have been admitted to UG courses so far and the admission process is almost over, and any order on language policy would impact the academic programme.
Additional Solicitor General of India M.B. Nargund sought more time to clarify Centre’s stand on the State Government’s policy of making Kannada compulsory for UG courses on the pretext of implementing NEP 2020, as the Centre is required to consult all the States in this regard, as any decision taken in this regard by the Centre would have an all-India ramification.
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When the A-G requested to limit the benefit of the interim order to the students who have filed the petition, the bench orally declined the request stating that all students will have to get benefit of the interim order. “Don’t politicise the issue,” the bench orally told the A-G while adjourning further hearing.
