Demand to declare Sanskrit as the national language: SC told the petitioner- you should hear only one line; Publicity petition dismissed

On Friday, the Supreme Court heard a petition seeking to declare Sanskrit as the national language. Meanwhile, a bench of Justice MR Shah dismissed the petition. Earlier, the bench told the petitioner, you hear a line in Sanskrit. On this, petitioner retired bureaucrat DG Vanzara recited a verse. To this the bench said, everyone knows this. Can you speak a line in Sanskrit or translate your writ petition prayer into Sanskrit?

The court said, this policy comes within the purview of the decision. For this a constitutional amendment would be necessary. We cannot direct Parliament for this. The bench asked the petitioner that do you speak Sanskrit? Can you translate your petition in Sanskrit? Sanskrit is spoken in how many cities? Then the court refused to hear the petition. The court called it a publicity petition.

The petition was filed in the court on behalf of retired IAS DG Vanzara. He talked about the promotion of the language through the declaration of Sanskrit as the national language. To this the bench asked, ‘In how many cities in India Sanskrit is spoken?’ The bench asked, ‘Do you speak Sanskrit? Can you speak a line in Sanskrit or translate the prayer of your writ petition into Sanskrit?’ To this the retired bureaucrat recited a verse and got the reply from the bench ‘We all know this’.

Petitioner Vanzara says that he wants a discussion on this from the Center and an intervention from the court will be helpful in starting the discussion at the government level. During the hearing, Vanzara referred to the statement of William Jones, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Kolkata during the British Raj, in which he said that among the 22 languages ​​studied by him, one thing is clear that Sanskrit is the mother tongue. To this the court said, ‘We also agree to this point. We know that the words of Hindi and many languages ​​of the states have come from Sanskrit. But on the basis of this no language can be declared as the national language. It is very difficult for us to declare the language.

Court said to go before the government
During the hearing, the petitioner referred to Article 32 and said that the apex court has scope in this regard and the discussion can be started after knowing the view of the Centre. On this, the court said that if the petitioners have a view to present the representation in this way, then they can be at liberty to approach the government regarding it.