TN assembly passes resolution urging Centre to make Tamil primary language of Madras high court | Chennai News
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to take steps to make Tamil the primary language of proceedings, judgments, decrees and orders in the Madras high court.Chief minister C Joseph Vijay moved the resolution after question hour and said the state sought the necessary legal action under Article 348(2) of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, to enable the use of Tamil in the high court.The resolution noted that Tamil had been the official language of Tamil Nadu under the Tamil Nadu Official Language Act, 1956. Sections 4-A and 4-B of the Act provided for the use of Tamil in recording evidence and issuing judgments, decrees and orders in subordinate courts, tribunals and other courts functioning under the high court.The assembly recalled that it had unanimously passed a resolution on Dec 6, 2006, seeking the use of Tamil in the Madras high court and forwarded it to the Centre. The Union law minister informed the Rajya Sabha in 2018 that the proposal had been referred to the Chief Justice of India and that the Supreme Court’s full court had not accepted it.The latest resolution said advances in legal Tamil, translation services, digital courts, legal databases and artificial intelligence had strengthened the case for reconsidering the proposal. It called for procedures to allow petitions, documents and arguments in Tamil and for judgments and court orders to be issued in Tamil.It also sought training in legal Tamil and translation for judges, lawyers and court staff.Members from the DMK, AIADMK, PMK, CPI, CPM, BJP and DMDK supported the resolution. Speaker JCD Prabhakar announced that it had been passed unanimously.
