New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to examine the legality of a 2006 law of Tamil Nadu making the Tamil language a compulsory subject from Class 1 in all state schools from 2006-07, saying it could not interfere with a policy decision of the state.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and J M Panchal dismissed a bunch of petitions questioning the legality of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006, saying it would not interfere with the Madras High Court ruling upholding the validity of the law.

The petitions had been filed by the Malayala Samajam and others from Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, where at least 20 percent people speak Malayalam.

The bench also cited similar laws in Karnataka and Maharashtra making Kannada and Marathi compulsory subjects in the respective states.

Ratifying the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, the Madras High Court had said the legislation was not unreasonable or discriminatory and did not result in minority institutions losing their character.

The high court had also absolved the state government of the petitioners charge of depriving the linguistic minority of their rights. The law does not, in any way, curtail the rights guaranteed to minority institutions under various provisions of the constitution, the high court had said.

Source : IANS