Kannada writers ask govt to file review plea against verdict

A meeting of prominent Kannada litterateurs called by the government today pitched for filing a review petition in the Supreme Court on its verdict striking down state government's decision to impose Kannada as a medium of instruction in primary education.
The meeting was convened against the backdrop of the apex court's verdict last week which held that the government cannot impose mother tongue on linguistic minority for imparting primary education.
"There is a unanimous opinion that a review petition should be filed," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said after the meeting.
Siddaramaiah said the Supreme Court judgement was a blow not only to Kannada but other regional languages as well and added that there were several inconsistencies in the verdict.

About 50 Kannada literary personalities, including Jnanpeeth award winners U R Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad and Advocate General Ravi Verma Kumar and legal expertsm, were present at the meeting.
A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha, had held last week "State has no power to compel linguistic minority to impart primary education by compulsorily imposing regional language."
The bench, also comprising Justices A K Patnaik, S J Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and F M I Kalifulla, was hearing the issue which had come before the apex court as two Karnataka Government Orders of 1994 making mother tongue or regional language compulsory for imparting education from class I to IV, had come under challenge.

Several pro-Kannada organisations have maintained that the court verdict was a blow to Kannada and have urged the government to file a review petition in this regard.