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The Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against a statement made by State Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa on how third language subjects, including Hindi, will not be evaluated during Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC)/Class 10 exams.
A Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha also slapped costs of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner.
"You notice there is a controversial topic going on, there are issues, public views expressed, so best way to do it is put a litigation on a statement. It is not even a statement; it is three words in a newspaper report!" the Chief Justice observed.
As per a report, Bangarappa recently announced that marks for third languages would no longer be added to the final SSLC marks, but would instead be individually graded. In other words, a subject's performance for third language subjects would not affect the pass or fail status of a student.
A Bengaluru resident named Chandana protested the move by filing a PIL before the Court, arguing that it would affect the career prospects of students if Hindi is viewed as not necessary.
Her counsel today argued that the Education Minister's statement indicated that Hindi was being done away with, which may not be a correct view.
The Bench, however, was quick to point out that the newspaper reports relied on by the petitioner did not reflect any such comment.
"This (that State is "doing away with Hindi") is not even the statement, that is what we are saying, this is a publicity interest litigation. There is no statement that Hindi has to be done away with!" Chief Justice Bakhru said.
The Court had initially imposed ₹50,000 as costs.
However, after the petitioner made some more arguments, the Bench revised the costs payable to ₹1 lakh.
The costs are to be be paid by the petitioner to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority, the Court ordered. If the said costs are not paid, the same may be recovered as arrears of land revenue, it added.