CHENNAI: It was on Thursday that the Tamil Development Department (TDD) issued a Government Order (G.O.) mandating that State government departments use only Tamil names and initials on documents. Going by the DIPR statements issued since then by various departments, it seems the government itself is flouting that order.
Several DIPR statements shows names of ministers PK Sekar Babu, N Kayalvzihi, KN Nehru, MRK Panneerselvam and MPs SR Parthiban, AKP Chinraj and KRN Rajeshkumar with English initials, a stark contrast to the order.
According to the G.O., two earlier orders — one in 1978 and another in 1998 — and a government letter issued in 1997 on the same matter, too, had not been properly implemented. The new G.O. was supposed to be implemented to the letter from the date of its issue.
After the TDD G.O., the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) released press statements mentioning names with English initials. The number of the press releases that had the English initials are 1313, 1314, 1319, 1323 and 1325.
They mention several names of officials in English despite the mandate that all the names and initials in the government documents must be only in Tamil. It must be noted that the DIPR statements are considered to be government officials’ documents as messages are conveyed to the public through these statements.
As per the order, Minister KN Nehru’s name must have the Tamil initials ‘Kaa Na’. But, the press note merely had the Tamil letters pronounced in English letters: ‘KN’. Likewise, most of the ministers, elected representatives and other names mentioned in the DIPR statements are in violation of the TDD order.
Similarly, since Friday, the Greater Chennai Corporation also issued various press releases, of which, the press releases 347, 349 and 350 have names with English initials. This is a blatant violation of the G.O by government departments.
Commenting on the violation of the order by government departments, a retired officer of the department, told TNIE, on condition of anonymity, “There is no accountability in the implementation of the G.O.s to ensure Tamil as an official language. The government didn’t take action against officials for this violation despite repeated complaints raised by the TDD.”
He added, “As per the powers vested with the TDD authorities, we can only inspect government offices for usage of Tamil; whether authorities sign in Tamil and prepare files and send messages in Tamils. But we can’t take any action against the authorities even if we find them guilty.”
He also said, “To take action, we have to write to the district collector and only the collector can initiate action through their department head. Hence, none have been punished so far. Earlier G.O.s on the matter have also been left without implementation.”
‘No action taken despite TDD plaints’
A retired official said, “There is no accountability...to ensure Tamil as an official language. No action was taken against errant officials despite repeated complaints from the TDD.”