States can’t make linguistic minorities choose mother tongue, rules SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said states in India have no powers to compel the children of linguistic minorities to choose the language considered to be the mother tongue in a state as a medium of instruction at primary level.
A constitution bench of Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justice A.K.Patnaik, Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya, Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla said: “We hold that the state has no power under article 350A of the constitution to compel the linguistic minorities to choose their mother tongue only as a medium of instruction in primary schools.”
“Article 350A (Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at the primary stage) therefore cannot be interpreted to empower the state to compel a linguistic minority to choose its mother tongue only as a medium of instruction in a primary school established by it in violation of this fundamental right under article 30(1)”, said Justice Patnaik speaking for the bench.
The court’s decision came while dismissing a plea challenging the Karnataka High Court order holding that children of linguistic minorities could not be compelled to take Kannada as a medium of instruction in primary classes.
The Karnataka government had challenged the high court verdict which had set aside the State government order making Kannada a mandatory medium of instruction in all schools at primary level.
“Mother tongue in the context of the constitution would, therefore, mean the language of the linguistic minority in a State and it is the parent or the guardian of the child who will decide what the mother tongue of child is,” the constitution bench of the court ruled.
The court said that the Constitution nowhere provides that mother tongue is the language which the child is comfortable with. (IANS)