Karnataka HC issues notice on 10-yr-old's petition against compulsory Kannada

Bengaluru: A notice has been issued by the Karnataka High Court to the state government in connection with the petition filed by a 10-year-old boy studying in Class 4, questioning the decision to make the Kannada language compulsory.

Keertan Suresh, studying in Bishop Cotton’s Boys School in Bengaluru, represented by his mother N. Sujatha, challenged the constitutional validity of the Kannada Language Learning Act, which makes the teaching of Kannada mandatory as a first or secondary language from Class 1 to 10 in all schools including those affiliated to the CBSE and ICSE.

The petition claimed that the Act is harsh, draconian, and discriminatory and also violates the spirit of the Constitution.

Seeking to stop the Karnataka government from implementing Act, 2015 in institutions that teach CBSE and ICSE streams, the plea says: “The law imposes unreasonable restrictions and violates Articles 19 and 30 of the constitution. It does not take into account the student being resettled in the state after the transfer of parents.”

The bench, headed by Justice R. Devdas, that took up the case ordered notice be issued to the Karnataka government.