SC rejects Tamil Nadu plea against Navodaya schools, gives 3 months

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to recall its direction to Tamil Nadu to identify land in every district for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, telling the state to change its mindset that Hindi cannot be taught on its soil. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih granted Tamil Nadu three months to comply, stressing cooperative federalism. "It can’t be that Hindi will not be taught in the soil of Tamil Nadu," Justice Nagarathna observed.

Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, for Tamil Nadu, argued the Navodaya scheme’s three-language policy supersedes the state’s two-language law and that language choice is a fundamental right. The court said Tamil could be considered as a second language and asked state and Central secretaries to continue discussions. The state also cited Rs 5,000 crore in unpaid Centre funds. The Centre countered that the state only needs to provide land. The matter returns on December 14.