IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.S.R.BANNURMATH & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.K.BASHEER FRIDAY, THE 10TH JULY 2009 / 19TH ASHADHA 1931 WP(C).No. 3509 of 2007(S) ------------------------- PETITIONER: -------------- HOSDURG TALUK KANNADA SANGHA, ( A LIGUISTIC MINORITY ORGANIZATION) REGISTERED NO. 113/2002, OFFICE AT KMC- XII/241, HOSDURG, P.O.KANHANGAD, REP. BY ITS PRESIDENT. BY ADV. SRI.K.SHRIHARI RAO RESPONDENTS: ---------------- 1. UNION OF INDIA, REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, GOVT. OF INDIA, NEW DELHI. 2. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, GENERAL ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT, TRIVANDRUM. 3. THE COMMISSIONER, LINGUISTIC MINORITIES IN INDIA, 40, AMARANATH JHA MARG, ALLAHABAD-2, U.P. 4. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, KASARAGOD. R1 TO R3 BY ADV. SRI.JOHN VARGHESE, ASSISTANT SG R2 BY SR.GOVT. PLEADER, SRI.BENJAMIN PAUL. THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 10/07/2009, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: WPC : 3509/2007 APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS: EXT.P1 : TRUE COPY OF THE G.O. DATED 26.12.1961 OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT. EXT.P2 : TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION DATED 24.06.04 OF THE PETITIONER. EXT.P3 : TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER DATED 05.08.04 OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT. EXT.P4 : TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATIOND ATED 30.09.04 OF THE PETITIONER. EXT.P5 : TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER DATED 10.11.04 OF THE 4TH RESPONDENT. EXT.P6 : TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATIOND ATED 02.04.04 OF THE PETITIONER TO THE 4TH RESPONDENT. EXT.P7 : TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 04.07.06 IN WPC: 292/05. EXT.P8 : TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER DATED 02.08.06 OF THE 3RD RESPONDENT. EXT.P9 : TRUE COPY OF THE REGISTERED LETTER DATED 25.09.06 OF THE 3RD RESPONDENT. EXT.P10 : TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER DATED 17.10.06 OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT TO THE PETITIONER. RESPONDENTS' EXHIBITS: EXT.R1(A) : TRUE COPY OF LETTER NO.31/1/2005-945-49, DATED 03.08.06. EXT.R1(B) : TRUE COPY OF LETTER NO.31/1/2005-1470 DATED 25.09.06. EXT.R2(A) : TRUE COPY OF THE GOVERNMENTORDER, G.O(MS) NO.758/EDN. DATED 26.12.1961. EXT.R2(B) : TRUE COPY OF THE GOVERNMENT ORDER G.O(MS) NO.701 DATED 22.12.1962. /TRUE COPY/ PA TO JUDGE S.R. Bannurmath, C.J. & A.K.Basheer, J. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - W.P.(C)No. 3509 of 2007 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dated this, the 10th day of July, 2009 JUDGMENT S.R. Bannurmath, C.J. This public interest litigation is filed by a linguistic minority organisation to quash Exts.P1, P3, P5 and P10 issued by the respondent and to declare that Kannadigas of the Hosdurg Taluk are entitled to get the benefit which is now being enjoyed by the Kannadigas in the neighbourhood in Kasargod Taluk. 2. Tracing the history of formation of the State and re-organisation of the State, it is contended that the Kannadigas from the neighbouring State of Karnataka are residents of Hosdurg Taluk and they form a linguistic minority and as such, as the facilities enjoyed by the neighbouring Kannadigas in Kasargod Taluk, the petitioners and the other Kannadigas are also entitled to have the same benefits like – (a) Government notices, Rules, Electoral rolls etc., to be published in minority language, WP(C) No.3509/2007 -:2:- (b) the forms used by the public should be printed both in regional language and in the minority language (c) facilities for registration of documents, (d) correspondence with Government Officers, (e) facilities for the school children etc. are to be provided to the Kannadigas of Hosdurg Taluk. 2. On issuance of the notice in the writ petition, the State has filed its detailed counter, inter alia stating that, the status of linguistic minority has to be decided solely on the consensus factor according to the guidelines issued by the Southern Zone, where 15% or more of the population speak a language different from the principal regional language, that language gets the status of linguistic minority. According to the State, as per the last survey of 2001, the total population of Hosdurg Taluk is 5,87,166 and out of whom 30,000 are Kannadigas. This proportion comes to 5.1%, i.e., less than the required 15% WP(C) No.3509/2007 -:3:- to get the status of linguistic minority. According to the State, as 95% of the total population of Hosdurg are Malayalees and as a result of the migration of Kannadigas to their parent State Karnataka, there is dwindling in population and because of most of the Kannadigas are admitting their children to English school, the number of Kannada medium schools are also dwindling. Nevertheless, it is stated that in Hosdurg Taluk all the three languages namely, English, Malayalam and Kannada are used for all official communications and Kannada schools are also looked after by the Education Department. So far as the preparation of ration cards, electoral rolls, circulars etc., it is stated that because of the population of Kannadigas being around 5% only, the same are printed in Malayalam. Nevertheless, whenever representations or petitions in Kannada are given, they are replied in the Universal language, English. Considering the reply and the statistics, which is not much in dispute, in our view, Kannadigas in Hosdurg Taluk do not get WP(C) No.3509/2007 -:4:- eligibility for declaration as linguistic minority and in view of this, the prayers of the petitioner cannot be granted. It is made clear that any observations made by us as to the linguistic minority status will not take away any of the privileges so far available to the petitioner and the Kannadigas of Hosdurg Taluk. With the above observation, the petition stands dismissed. S.R. Bannurmath, Chief Justice. A.K.Basheer, Judge ttb/vku.