Supreme Court rejects plea to declare Sanskrit as national language

A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari refused to entertain the plea observing that giving a language 'national' status is a policy decision that requires an amendment to the Constitution, and is not ordered by the court.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking a declaration to make Sanskrit the national language of India.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari refused to entertain the plea observing that giving a language ‘national’ status is a policy decision that requires an amendment to the Constitution, and is not ordered by the court.

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“This lies in the realm of policy decision and even for the aforesaid, Constitution of India is to be amended. No writ can be issued to Parliament for declaring a language as a national language,” said the bench.

“How many cities in India speak Sanskrit? Do you speak Sanskrit? Can you recite one line in Sanskrit or at least translate the prayer in your writ petition to Sanskrit,” it asked the petitioner.

The petitioner’s lawyer said Sanskrit is a “mother language” from which other tongues took inspiration.

Refusing to entertain the plea, the top court said that the petitioner may be at liberty to file such a representation before the government.

The PIL was filed by retired IAS officer and lawyer KG Vanzara.

The plea sought a direction to the Central government to notify Sanskrit as the national language saying such a move will not disturb the current Constitutional provisions which provide for English and Hindi as official languages of the country.