HC disposes of PIL challenging exclusion of Tamil as a language in postal exams

The Madras High Court on Tuesday disposed of a public interest litigation which had challenged exclusion of Tamil as a language for postal recruitment examinations.

The court's decision came after the Centre submitted a copy of its July 23 notification permitting postal recruitment examinations in respective local languages where Hindi was not a local language.

Assistant Solicitor General G Kathikeyan submitted the notification copy before a bench of justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad.

According to the July 23 notification issued by the Union Ministry of Communications, the Part I exam for the posts of Multi Tasking Staff (MTS) postman and mail guard, among others, in the postal department can be taken in English, Hindi and respective local language.

The ASG had on Monday made a special mention on the matter and said he would furnish the copy of the notification and urged the court to post the petition, filed by DMK Students wing Secretary, for hearing on Tuesday.

The Centre had earlier this month cancelled the postal department exams in Tamil Nadu in view of opposition from various political parties to its conduct only in English and Hindi and excluding Tamil as one of the languages for the tests.