CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government on Friday asserted that it will walk the “extra mile” in exerting pressure on the Union government in accepting Tamil as the official language of the Madras High Court after the Centre reiterated in Parliament that the Supreme Court had rejected the proposal in 2012.
In reply to a written question by rebel AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa in Rajya Sabha, minister of state for law and justice P. P. Chaudhary said the Chief Justice of India in his latter dated 16 October 2012 had decided not to accept the proposal.
“The full court of the Supreme Court had adopted similar resolutions earlier on May, 7, 1997, and October 15, 1999. In view of the full court decision of the Supreme Court, no further action has been taken in the matter,” Chaudhary said.
He was replying to a question raised by Sasikala Pushpa on whether the government was aware of the fact that a resolution was passed in the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu way back in 2006 urging the Central Government to get Presidential Assent to make Tamil as official language in Madras High Court.
Responding to the reply by Chaudhary, Tamil development minister ‘MaFoi’ K Pandiarajan said the Tamil Nadu government has decided to adopt two-pronged strategy to ensure that Tamil is made official language of the high court here.
Apart from exerting pressure on the Union Government on the issue, Pandiarajan said he would talk to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on the need for all states that are fighting for the cause to come together and ratchet pressure.
“The Supreme Court had rejected the proposal, but the Tamil Nadu Government has given a detailed response. We hope that we will get a positive response when the case comes up may be next month,” Pandiarajan said.
“The truth is that not many states are demanding that their language be made officiating language of the high courts. I think Tamil Nadu should talks to states like West Bengal that are fighting for the case and come up with an action plan to achieve the demand,” he said.
It was the DMK Government headed by M Karunanidhi that passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2006 seeking to announce Tamil as official language of the Madras High Court.
