Supreme Court Asks TN Govt & Union To Have Talks On Establishing Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas In Tamil Nadu

The Supreme Court today orally urged the Union Government and the Tamil Nadu Government to have talks on the issue of establishing Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the State.

A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan was hearing an appeal filed by the State of Tamil Nadu in 2017 against a judgment of the Madras High Court directing the Tamil Nadu government to establish a Navodaya Vidyalaya in every district of the State. The State challenged the order before the Supreme Court, which granted an interim stay on 11 December 2017. The matter had not been taken up substantively since then.

At today's hearing, the Supreme Court orally asked the Tamil Nadu government and the Union to explore a resolution after having consultations with each other. The Court gave both sides two weeks to complete this exercise and posted the matter for 15 December 2025.

The Court observed that the issue should not be seen adversarially.

Advocate G Priyadharshni, the counsel for Kumari Maha Sabha, the NGO whose PIL led to the 2017 High Court directions, told the bench that JNVs nationwide have strong academic performance, pointing out that in 2017 alone, 14,183 JNV students appeared for NEET, with 11,875 qualifying for admission. They added that, over the past decade, JNVs have consistently achieved 98-99% pass percentage in Class X and 96-98% pass percentage in Class XII

The NGO submitted that JNVs operate in every other State in the country except Tamil Nadu, and that the State cannot discriminate when other Central schools, such as Kendriya Vidyalayas, have been functioning for decades.

The Court asked the State Government and the Union government to seek instructions and posted the matter for further consideration on 15 December 2025.

The State of Tamil Nadu has challenged the High Court's judgment dated 11 September 2017, which held that JNVs would not violate the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006, and directed the State to provide temporary accommodation for 240 students in each district within two months. The High Court had found that the State's blanket refusal to permit JNVs curtailed the rights of students to choose their educational institutions and was inconsistent with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act .

In its Special Leave Petition, the State argued that education policy falls within its exclusive domain and that the State has consciously adopted a two-language formula, Tamil and English,under the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006. The State submitted that JNVs follow the three-language formula (regional language, English and Hindi), which it contends is incompatible with its statutory framework and policy position. 

The High Court had taken the contrary view. After seeking detailed information from the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, the court recorded that JNVs in Tamil-speaking regions use Tamil as a medium of instruction up to Class VIII, offer Tamil as the first language in Classes IX and X, and make it available as an optional subject in Classes XI and XII. On this basis, it held that JNVs do not conflict with the State's language policy and that refusal to allow them was irrational and harmful to rural students. It noted that the Central government bears the entire financial burden and that the State is only required to provide land for the schools .

Appearances -

For State: Sabarish Subramanian AOR

For respondent no.1 - Advocates Rahul Shyam Bhandari, G. Priyadharshni, Satyam Pathak, Adv Anshita Sharma, Adv.

For Union- ASG KM Nataraj.

Case : The State of Tamil Nadu v. Kumari Maha Sabha and others | SLP(c) 33459/2017