NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to have a consultation with the union government regarding the setting up of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in districts across the state.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan said that India was a “federal society”, and the state government should not adopt an adversarial attitude on the issue.
Tamil Nadu is the only state that does not have any JNVs, the schools run by central government. The state has argued that the three-language formula, including learning of Hindi, followed in JNVs is contradictory to the two-language formula followed in Tamil Nadu.
The direction was made while hearing a special leave petition preferred by the state government against a 2017 order of the Madras High Court, which had asked the state government to allocate land for setting up JNVs. The HC’s order was issued based on a petition filed by the organisation, Kumari Maha Sabha.
Directing the authorities to ascertain the extent of land required for establishing JNVs in each district of Tamil Nadu, the apex court on Monday said, “You come one step, they will also come one step. They may come two steps”.
It asked the Tamil Nadu government not to take the language policy as an imposition, observing that it is an opportunity for the state’s students. “You can say this is our language policy. They will look into it,” the court said.
The apex court told the Tamil Nadu government that the union government would also not discredit the state’s policy. “Bring to the notice of the secretaries of the central government about your Act and how you are going about it. Please have a positive attitude,” the bench said.
The apex court said it had passed the directions in the interest of students who are entitled to be admitted to JNVs in Tamil Nadu.
Senior advocate P Wilson, appearing for Tamil Nadu, submitted that the JNVs followed the three-language formula, whereas the state has a statutory two-language policy. Moreover, he said the setting up of JNVs in each district would mean that the state government has to provide around 30 acres of land in every district and bear other related costs.
Justice Nagarathna observed that the issue should not be turned into a language dispute. “Don’t make it into a language issue. We are a federal society. You are part of the Republic,” she said.