In a fresh twist to the controversy over the usage of Hindi at Namma Metro stations, a city-based advocate on Wednesday filed a complaint with the police against the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation stating that they had violated article 343 of the Constitution by masking Hindi signage at two metro stations.
Article 343 designates Hindi as the official language of the Union. In his complaint filed with the Upparpet police station, R.L.N. Murthy has said that BMRCL had “illegally covered the portion of Hindi language in the display boards at the interchange metro station at Majestic which is unconstitutional and clear violation of article 343 of Constitution of India and is an offence punishable under the law,” the complaint says.
He asked the police to take action against BMRCL for showing disrespect to the “official language” of India. While the police took the complaint, officials remained tight-lipped on what action would be taken.
BMRCL responds to KDA
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation on Wednesday responded to the notice issued to the Managing Director by the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) last month-end. It said it was simply following instructions issued by the Central government to follow the tri-language rule.
The response also shared communication between the State and Central governments in which it is argued that BMRCL could not be considered a Public Sector Undertaking as the State and the Centre had equal sharing of equity.
The letter, sent by then Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav in July 2016, argues that the State has a much larger share in the implementation of Namma Metro and asks for exemption from the Official Language Act.
BMRCL’s response also included a letter from the Ministry of Urban Development in December 2016 in which all metro rail corporations have been directed to follow the tri-language policy of regional language, Hindi and English.
However, the Kannada Development Authority pointed out that the tri-language policy did not find mention in the tri-partite agreement signed between the BMRCL, Union and State governments, and that it was not binding on BMRCL to implement the policy. “We will direct BMRCL to take action in this matter and send us a report within 15 days,” said S.G. Siddaramaiah, Chairman, KDA.
