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Court notice to UPSC on language option issue
- The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central Department of Personnel & Training and the Union Public Service Commission on a public interest litigation challenging a decision of the Department to make English compulsory for those students who opt for a language other than English as the medium for writing the Central Civil Services examinations.
- The petitioner, Dina Nath Batra, submitted that the decision of the Department had put students who had opted for their mother-tongue for writing the exams in a disadvantageous position in comparison to candidates who preferred English as the medium.
- Since 2011, the Union Government has introduced a new pattern for conducting the preliminary examination for the services. The applicants have to write two papers; General Knowledge and Aptitude Test. In the second paper of aptitude test, there is a compulsory topic of “English Comprehension Skills” comprising nine questions of 2.5 marks each, the petitioner said.
- The petitioner submitted that the decision was clearly discriminatory as it denied entry to a vast majority of Indians, especially from small towns and from the rural background that had done their education in their mother tongues.
- The decision also violated Article 16 of the Constitution of India which states that “there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state”, the petitioner submitted.
