Judgment

MOHAN, J.:- All these cases can be dealt with under a common judgment since the issue involved is the same. We will first take up the writ petition.

2. The Government of Karnataka, wedded to the cause of promotion of Kannada, appointed a Committee of six persons with Dr. V. K. Gokak as the Chairman and referred the following questions:

(1) Should Sanskrit remain as the subject for study in the school syllabus?

(2) If so, how to retain it without its being an alternative for Kannada?

(3) Would it be proper to have Kannada as a compulsory subject as per the Three Language Formula and should the option of selecting the remaining two languages be left to students themselves?

3. The Committee submitted its report dated 27th January, 1981 which is popularly known as Dr. Gokak Committee Report . The gist of the recommendations is as under:-

(1) Kannada should be introduced as a compulsory subject for all children from 3rd Standard;

(2) Kannada should be the sole first language for the Higher Secondary Schools (i.e., 8th, 9th and 10th Standards) carrying 150 marks, and this should be implemented for Kannada speaking people from 1981-82 itself and in respect of others 1986-87, after taking necessary steps to teach Kannada to them from the 3rd Standard from the academic year 1981-82 itself.

4. On a consideration of the abovesaid report, the State Government passed an order dated 30-4-82 which is to the following effect :

"Order No. Ed. 113 SOH 79, Bangalore, Dated 30th April, 1982.

Government have carefully examine the recommendations of the Committee and having regard to all aspects of the matter are pleased to order as follows:

1. At the Secondary School level, the language pattern to be adopted will be as follows:-

A. First Language:

Kannada or Mother Tongue (Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, English, Hindi) to carry 150 marks.

B. Two other languages from the following:

Kannada, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi to carry 100 marks each.

Note : (1) Students offering a language other than Kannada as First Language will study Kannada as First Language will study Kannada as a compulsory language and any one of the remaining languages (from Group B) both of which will be examination subjects for the S.S.L.C.

(2) Students offering Kannada as First language will take any two of the above languages (from B Group) except Kannada.

2. Students coming from outside the State and joining VIII, IX or X Standard and who have not studied any of the languages listed as First Language may be allowed to take Additional English or Hindi as First Language.

3. The teaching of Kannada from III Standard in Non-Kannada Schools will commence from the academic year 1982-83 itself and the language pattern for the High Schools prescribed in para 1 above will come into effect from the academic year 1987-88.

4. Students joining VIII Standard from the academic year 1982-83 cannot take Sanskrit as First Language or as composite First Language. They can take Sanskrit as Third Language. This system will continue till the language pattern prescribed in para 1 above comes into force from the academic year 1987-88.

5. The Commissioner for Public Instruction was requested to take necessary action in the matter immediately to implement the above orders."

5. Since it was felt that the order dated 30th April, 1982 did not sufficiently reflect the aspirations of the Kannada speaking people, the Government thought it expedient to place the entire matter before the State Legislature. The State Legislature resolved that in the High Schools Kannada must be the sole First regional language carrying 125 marks. In addition, a student might study any two languages carrying 100 marks each. 15 grace marks might be given for a period of 10 years belonging to linguistic minority community who study Kannada as First regional language and also those who study Hindi and whose mother tongue is not Hindi to enable the students whose mother tongue is not Kannada to learn Kannada a