The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday asked the Tamil Nadu government to reconsider its opposition to the establishment of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in the state, underscoring that the language issue should be addressed by means of dialogue between the Union government and the state.

An SC bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna was hearing Tamil Nadu’s challenge to an order directing the establishment of Navodaya schools in every district. The top court questioned the state’s objection that the schools would conflict with its statutory two-language policy.

Justice Nagarathna noted that the establishment of Navodaya Schools, by itself, was not necessarily contrary to the state’s language policy and urged it to engage with the Union Government to resolve the issue.

TN cites 2-language policy

Appearing on behalf of Tamil Nadu, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, contended that the Navodaya scheme was based on the three-language formula and could result in Hindi gaining greater prominence over Tamil.

The state has maintained that its statutory two-language policy, centred on Tamil and English, does not permit the scheme to be implemented in its present form. The state has also contended that the three-language structure underpinning JNVS is incompatible with the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006.

However, the court questioned whether the state could refuse to implement a Central government scheme and asked Tamil Nadu to identify land for setting up Navodaya schools in every district.

Centre says regional language or English can be used

At the heart of the dispute lies the language structure followed by the JNVs. The Centre submitted before the SC that in non-Hindi speaking states, the medium of instruction in Navodaya schools is primarily the regional language or English.

Therefore, the Centre has maintained its stance, saying that the presence of a three-language framework does not necessarily mean that Hindi would emerge as the medium of instruction in schools across Tamil Nadu. Notably, the matter has been under the scrutiny of the judiciary for several years.

In an earlier round of litigation, the Madras High Court (HC) held that establishing Navodaya schools would not violate Tamil Nadu’s language law, observing that Tamil could remain compulsory. It also observed that while the Centre would bear the cost of setting up schools, the state would be required to provide land.

Court emphasises dialogue

The top court had also posed a question before Tamil Nadu during a hearing held in July this year, asking why the state should prevent Central Government-run schools from being established and noting that the three-language formula did not necessarily imply Hindi.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has maintained that the policy is optional and that courts cannot compel a state to implement a government scheme. Responding to this, the Supreme Court has underlined the importance of dialogue and cooperative federalism in resolving the dispute between the Centre and the state.

In its latest order, the court granted Tamil Nadu a period of three months to comply with the directions and asked representatives of the Centre and the state to hold further discussions of the policy and establishment of the schools.

The matter will next be heard on December 14.