Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged the Union government and the Supreme Court to reconsider their stand on the State’s demand on allowing the use of Tamil in the Madras High Court.
Making the appeal at the joint conference of the Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts at New Delhi, Ms. Jayalalithaa stated: “If we are to take the administration of justice genuinely closer to the people, then it is absolutely imperative that the local language is used in the High Court, as is already being done in the State government and in the State Legislature.”
Repeated requests to authorise the use of Tamil in the High Court of Madras had been turned down, the Chief Minister said.
In fact, a recent communication received in January 2013 from the Department of Official Languages in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs indicated that the State’s request had been declined by the Full Court of the Supreme Court, she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa pointed out that Article 348(2) of the Constitution read with Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, clearly envisaged the usage of the State official language in judgments, decrees and proceedings of the High Court with the prior concurrence of the President.
Moreover, this practice was already adopted in four States, Ms. Jayalalithaa said.
