The Centre on Friday submitted before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that it had issued a corrigendum for the admission notice to Pandit Deenadayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology.
Postgraduation in Tamil and other classical languages had been included as minimum qualification to PG Diploma course in Archaeology, the Centre said.
Taking cognisance of the submission, a Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi asked the Centre why it was not done so in the first instance itself. Though it was claimed that the omission was done inadvertently, it appeared to be deliberate, the court observed.
The court took serious note of the omission and put forth a series of questions to the Centre. It sought to know who was responsible for the omission and if any action was taken against the official concerned. The judges directed the Centre to submit its response on October 28.
The court also directed the Centre to furnish the details on languages that were enjoying ‘Classical Status’. The court hoped that caution would be exercised in such matters in future. The court was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by S. Ramesh Kumar from Karaikudi, who challenged the Centre’s notification.
