Chennai: Refusing to interfere with the four-language formula in the union territory of Puducherry, Madras High Court yesterday said English would continue to be the link language for transaction of official business and in the interest of public service.
According to language policy of Puducherry, Tamil will be the official language for all or any of official purposes, whereas Malayalam may be used for official purposes in the regions of Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, and Telugu in Yanam, also an enclave of the union territory in Andhra Pradesh.
“English may be used for all or the official purposes, meaning it could act as link languages common to all regions in the union territory”, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, said on a PIL filed by “Puduvai Kalai Ilakkia Peru Mandram”, an art and literary organisation, which wanted to direct the territorial administration to adhere to its language policy in “letter and spirit.”
Concurring with the submissions of senior government pleader and public prosecutor T Murugesan, the judges refused to issue any direction to that effect saying “the notification has been issued keeping in mind the peculiarity of the union territory of Puducherry, where there are people from different regions speaking different languages live.”
“The local languages are three in number and that is why Section 3 refers to the area and the respective language for that area, with a non-obstante clause for official communication in English on account of there being really three local languages.
Thus, a four-language formula is applied specially, as even the officers may be using one language or the other in their respective areas”, the judges said.
The counter-affidavit of the territorial administration too made it clear that English language continued to be the link language among all officers working in all the four regions - Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam - to avoid deviation in official business and in the interest of public service.
As for the PIL's give Tamil its due importance, it said separate cell - Tamil Development Wing - is proposed to be created in the chief secretariat.
The legislative business is also carried out in Tamil, it said, adding: “The determination of government of Puducherry to implement the use of Tamil in all official correspondence in a phase manner has been set out, and a separate cell is created involving a cost of Rs 10 crore per annum.”
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