AIADMK leaders call on President Patil to urge for Tamil to be the court’s language
By ANIMonday, June 21, 2010
NEW DELHI/ CHENNAI - A group of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs called on President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil here on Monday to urge for their demand to make Tamil as the official language of the Madras High court.
Leading the delegation M. Thambidurai, Member of Parliament and member of AIADMK presented a memorandum to President Patil today.
Speaking to the media Thambidurai said Tamil language must be given due importance and the current chief of the state should take the matter seriously.
“Tamil must be given due importance in all fields including the language of Madras High Court. A lot of agitation is going on, the lawyers have gone for the hunger strike, they are facing some problems there and because of the suffering they may even die. Therefore the present chief minister of Tamil Nadu should give importance to this,” he said.
The delegation also requested the President to make an announcement in this regard at the forthcoming World Classical Tamil Conference to be held at Coimbatore from June 23 to 27.
President Patil is scheduled to inaugurate the conference.
AIADMK leaders also alleged that the Tamil Nadu government is using excessive force on the lawyers who are agitating to make Tamil as the court’s language in Chennai.
In Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai, police arrested agitating lawyers outside the Madras High Court.
Lawyers of Madras High court are on an indefinite hunger strike, demanding Tamil to be used as the official court language.
English is the current official language of the court.
“The basic and only one demand is to make our, the oldest and the proudest language Tamil to be the language of the courts,” said Ramarajan, an Advocate at the Madras High Court.
The indefinite hunger strike began on Thursday (June 17) inside the premises of the High Court in Chennai.
The agitating lawyers want the State government to press for Presidential assent to the resolution adopted by Tamil Nadu Assembly four years ago, calling for use of Tamil as the official language in the Madras High Court. (ANI)
