The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea seeking a direction to the Centre, the states and union territories to make Hindi compulsory for students of class I-VIII across the country to promote national unity.
The bench, comprised Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said the people speaking other languages may also start asking why their languages are not being taught and added that the government could look into it.
The petitioner in the plea, had referred to constitutional provisions and the non-execution of the three-language formula enunciated in the 1968 National Policy Resolution by the Centre in consultation with the states.
Today you are asking for Hindi.Tomorrow somebody will come to court and ask for making study of Sanskrit mandatory. You and me would ask for Punjabi” . Advocate Suri has then withdrawn the petition. The Court dismissed it as withdrawn.On April 24 also the same bench declined to entertain a PIL led by Upadhyay for a direction to the Govt to review the working of the Constitution saying his party was in power and better approach his Government.
“When your party (BJP) is in power at the Centre and no decision was taken, the court cannot intervene as the issue raised by him is a policy matter and it is indeed the prerogative of legislature and executive. You approach the Govt”, CJI had told Upadhyaya then also.