On Friday, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought directions from the court to make Sanskrit the national language of India. The Court stated that the correct forum to examine the matter is the parliament and not the court.
“Why should we issue a notice or declare for publicity? We may share some of your views but the right forum to debate this is in parliament. It needs amendment to the Constitution,” the bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari said.
The petitioner’s lawyer said Sanskrit is a mother language from which other tongues took inspiration, therefore it should be declared national language. Refusing to entertain the plea, the top court said that the petitioner may be at liberty to file such a representation before the government.
“You draft your prayer in Sanskrit. Why should we issue a notice or declare, for publicity? We may share some of your views but the right forum to debate this is in parliament. It needs amendment in Constitution”, the Court said.
“We refuse to entertain the petition. Dismissed. Counsel at liberty to make appropriate representation before concerned authorities”, the Court maintained reiterating that it is a matter of policy that the Court can’t intervene.
The PIL was filed by retired IAS officer and lawyer KG Vanzara who sought direction from the Central government to notify Sanskrit as the national language. “Such a move will not disturb the current Constitutional provisions which provide for English and Hindi as official languages of the country”, the plea read.