Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Nov 28: Karnataka High Court on Friday November 27, ordered for framing of charges against the state primary and secondary education minister, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri. This order was passed in relation to a contempt of court case, filed in connection with the language policy of the state government.

A division bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Jagannath, which is hearing the case, passed the order against Kageri, one of the parties to the suit, and posted the next hearing on December 17.

A private educational institution from the city has filed this petition. It had applied to the government, for permission to start an English medium school in the city. The government neither rejected the application, nor approved it, as the case relating to the language policy was pending before the Supreme Court.

Questioning the inertia of the state government, the institution has filed a writ petition in the High Court. The school authorities have requested the High Court to intervene in the matter and execute the High Court order issued earlier, which had nullified the state’s language policy. The petitioner has been arguing that the state government is under compulsion to follow the earlier High Court order, as the Supreme Court, in which an appeal filed by the state government is pending, has not granted any stay against the implementation of the High Court order.

In the meanwhile, minister Kageri, in a hurriedly convened press meetat Hubli on Friday, clarified that a petition would be filed in the Supreme Court, requesting it to merge all the cases relating to the dispute on medium of instructions with the original suit and transfer them to the apex court itself. "The Supreme Court will also be requested to stay the operation of the directions of the High Court to frame charges and register contempt of court petition against me," he explained. He also said that there is no change in the stand of the government about imparting education in mother tongue and said, he would meet union human resources minister, Kapil Sibal, on the issue to request him to take initiative to protect the interests of the regional languages by facilitating giving primary education in mother tongue by framing a comprehensive national education policy.