Supreme Court Extends Exemption From Compulsory Tamil Subject For Linguistic Minority Schools Till 2023 Academic Year

A Bench comprising Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Manoj Misra was hearing a plea challenging the order of the Madras High Court, that refused to quash the Government Order of 2014, which made Tamil paper compulsory in Class 10 State Board exam for all students.

The Madras High Court had exempted students belonging to linguistic minority schools from writing Tamil language papers in Class 10 State Board Examination for the academic year 2020-2022. It appears that the plea by the petitioner organisation was preferred before the Supreme Court once the exemption came to an end.

On the last date of hearing, the Supreme Court indicated that the exemption be extended for the current academic year, i.e., 2022-2023. At the request of Senior Advocate, Dr. Abhishek Singhvi appearing on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu, the Court granted opportunity to him to get instructions with respect to extension of exemption that was initially made available for the academic year, 2020-2022.

On Monday, noting that at present the matter cannot be decided finally, the Bench thought it fit to extend the interim relief by another year, within which time it would set down the appeal for hearing.

“We are of the view that the interim arrangement which was earlier applying in terms of the High Court’s judgment in Writ Petition No.28032/2018 and other connected matters dated 23.09.2019 for a period of three years be extended for a period of one year more, within which time we are setting down the appeal for hearing.”

The plea submits that though the petitioner organisation had accepted that it would teach Tamil language to its students, the State Government has taken an extreme step of removing all minority languages from the list of compulsory languages. It emphasises that the languages which have been removed are the mother tongues of the linguistic minorities and the deprivation from learning the same is in teeth of their fundamental right envisaged by the Constitution of India. The plea further argues that the State Government cannot infringe fundamental rights of the students as per their whims and fancies. It also contends that the right to choose language at the primary and secondary level should be left to the student and their parents, otherwise it would be a blatant violation of their rights under Articles 19, 21A, 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India.

On the previous occasion, the Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant had apprised the Bench that the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006, in effect, exempts students migrating to the State from its ambit. However, the said exemption has not been extended to the linguistic minorities. They implored the Bench to direct the State Government to either grant exemption to the linguistic minorities or restore learning in their mother tongue.

[Case Title: Linguistic Minorities Forum of Tamil Nadu v. State of Tamil Nadu And Ors. SLP(C) No. 16727-16728/2022]