An application made under the Right to Information Act, 2005, has revealed that the State government has so far not issued a Government Order sanctioning Rs. 37.36 lakh demanded by Tamil University in Thanjavur in 2013 to start short-duration correspondence courses to teach Tamil to non-Tamils across the globe at a nominal cost.
Replying to the RTI application made by R. Lakshminarayanan, secretary of Madurai-based Bharathiyar Thinkers Forum (BTF), on September 16, the Public Information Officer of Tamil Development Department had on October 4 stated that no G.O. had been passed despite a specific direction issued to the State by the Madras High Court Bench here on April 22.
The PIO further said the issue of sanctioning funds to the university was still under consideration of the government. Similarly, responding to an identical RTI application made to the Director of Tamil Development on August 11, the Directorate stated that a proposal forwarded by it for sanctioning funds was pending with the government.
The BTF had been fighting for the cause since August 2011 when it submitted a representation to the Tamil Development Department, wanting to know whether they planned to offer certificate and diploma programmes to teach Tamil to non-Tamils as it was being offered by Central Hindi Directorate to teach Hindi.
The forum pointed out that the Hindi Directorate was providing reading materials and audio cassettes at a nominal cost of Rs. 50 and Rs.200 respectively to teach the language effectively.
The representation got tossed between the Tamil Development Department (TDD), School Education Department and Higher Education Department for long until finally the TDD called for a report from Tamil University in 2013. A year later, the university reported back that it would require Rs.37.36 lakh for starting such courses.
Thereafter, the matter was put under cold storage forcing the forum to approach the Madras High Court Bench which in April this year expressed anguish over the treatment being meted out to Tamil and directed the government to sanction the money required or even more within 12 weeks from the date of the receipt of a copy of its order.
“The copy was made ready by the High Court Registry on June 16 this year... It is disheartening that the State government has not obeyed even the court order,” Mr. Lakshminarayanan said.
