Classical language status for Kannada, Telugu in crossfire

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai

CHENNAI, 05 August (asiantribune.com): A petition in the Madras High Court challenging the Kannada language being accorded the classical language status is posted for final hearing on August 17.

Yesterday the Karnataka Chief MinisterYediyurappa met his Tamil Nadu peer Karunanidhi, who is camping in Bengaluru and requested him to persuade the petitioner Gandhi to withdraw the case as it will pacify the some of the Kannadiga outfits who have called a local bundh on August 9 at the time of unveiling the statue of saint-Tamil-poet Thiruvalluvar by Karunanidhi

Though Kannada was accorded the classical language tag nine months ago, the official recognition of this status is halted as this is subject to a writ petition filed by advocate R Gandhi in the Madras High Court. The public interest litigation, which has challenged the very legality of the constitution of the committee that recommended the classical language status to Kannada and Telugu, will come up for final hearing before first bench of the High Court.

Last week, the union government filed an affidavit, providing a weak defence of its decision to accord classical status to Kannada and Telugu, and so K.V. Dhananjay, advocate for TV anchor Deepak Thimmaiah impleaded in the case, and said the affidavit was weak as it had failed to lay out the grounds on which Kannada was deservingly granted the classical language status.

When the matter came up for hearing on June 22, the under-secretary in the Union Culture Ministry has argued in his affidavit that after going through the petitioner's objections, it is evident that he was not qualified to question the legality of the move, as he was not sufficiently literary; besides, notifications to the effect that the classical status has been accorded to the two languages are still be to issued.

The affidavit has said that the petitioner Gandhi had filed the petition based on an apprehension that the committee constituted for the purpose might recommend the granting of classical status to Kannada and Telugu .”A writ petition filed on the basis of an apprehension cannot be maintainable in law. Unless it's shown that the decision of constituting the committee as it now stands is illegal or suffers from any procedural improprieties... the decision of constituting the committee cannot be faulted," it said.

If the court allows the petition of Gandhi, the state government won't be able to challenge it in the Supreme Court, as it is not a party in the case, he added.

Grant for Kannada yet to be released

As the PIL challenging classical tag for Kannada as been pending in the Madras High Court, the Union government has not yet released the grant of Rs150 crore that is made towards promoting a classical language annually. Kannada is yet to get even a single paisa.

R Gandhi had filed the writ petition even before the notification according classical status to Kannada and Telugu was issued. When the union under secretary pointed this out, Gandhi filed another petition.
A provision to confer classical status to languages was made by a constitutional decree in 2004. Among the criteria by which this is judged are the antiquity of the language, its existence as the root language for others, well-established theory of language, and a rich body of literature.

Tamil language was accorded classical language status and grant was released with which a Tamil classical language development and research centre has been established inChennai