Madras High Court clears classical status for Telugu, Kannad, Malayalam and Odiya
Advocate R Gandhi had contested the status given to all four languages through two petitions in the Madras High Court and contended that the main intention behind giving the status was political. He argued that the four languages did not fulfil the criteria for being called classical, which was given to Sanskrit and in 2004, to Tamil.
The High Court bench headed by then Chief Justice Ashok Ganguly had issued an interim order stating that the classical tag would be subject to the outcome of this court case. As a result of this, all the research work, scholarships and funds that were supposed to flow in for the development and documentation of the languages were halted.
However, on Monday, the bench comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan said: "From the records it is evident that the expert body was satisfied that the languages comply with the eligibility criteria. Therefore, this court cannot go into the opinions and findings of the expert body. "
The bench also brushed aside fears expressed in the advocate's petition that the development of Tamil would be hampered because the other languages were given similar status. The bench observed that the growth and importance can be attributed only to the usage of language and creative contribution in the forms of arts and literature and that it was not dependent on the rise or fall of other languages.
