The writ petition filed in the Madras High Court six years ago, against granting of classical language status to Kannada, will come up for final hearing on Wednesday.
The Karnataka government, which has been criticised by Kannada activists for not doing enough to protect the classical status given to the language, will for the first time implead in the case.
According to Chairperson of Kannada Development Authority (KDA) L. Hanumanthaiah, Advocate-General Ravivarma Kumar will personally appear in court on Wednesday to defend the State’s interests.
R. Gandhi, a senior lawyer in the Madras High Court, had filed a petition challenging the classical language status accorded to Kannada and Telugu in 2008. He contended that the two languages could not be given the tag as they did not figure in the list of classical languages in the international forum.
Besides KDA, journalist Deepak Thimmiah and senior advocate C.H. Hanumantharaya impleaded in the case on behalf of Kannada. Andhra Pradesh Official Language Commission impleaded on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh government.
“Kannada has met all conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to be granted the classical language status,” said Mr. Hanumantharaya.
