PIL petition seeks establishment of national council for promotion of Tamil language

The litigant says similar councils have been working for the last 25 years to promote Urdu and Sindhi and a council for Tamil will help in teaching medicine and other professional courses in the local language

The Madras High Court on Thursday sought the response of the Centre to a public interest litigation petition for establishment of a National Council for Promotion of Tamil Language, on the lines of the councils in existence for Urdu and Sindhi, and name it after Tamil emperor Jatavarman Sundara Pandian.

The First Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy asked Deputy Solicitor-General Rajesh Vivekanandan to take notice on behalf of the Union Ministry of Education and obtain instructions within four weeks to the petition filed by advocate B. Jagannath, 36, of Chennai.

Representing the petitioner, Senior Counsel S. Ravi said the aim of the case was to establish a body to promote the divine Tamil language, including its ancient literary works such as the 4,000 Divyaprabhandham, the Agananooru, the Thevaram, the Tiruvasagam, the Purananooru and the Agastya Paribhashai.

This would eventually help in conducting medical as well as professional courses in Tamil, besides assisting the foreign missions of India in dealing with issues related to the Tamilians, the Senior Counsel said. A representation for establishing the national council had already been made to the Centre, he said.

The Senior Counsel said the intent of the Centre to promote Tamil was visible through the conduct of Kashi Tamil Sangam, a month-long programme held at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh last year, and the Kutch Tamil Sangam, planned at Somnath for next month. The national council would serve as another feather in its cap.