UPSC exams in regional languages: HC asks Union Home Secy to issue order

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court asked the Union Home Secretary to deal with a grievance made through a public interest litigation that said the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was conducting examinations only in English and Hindi, which prevented a large number of candidates hailing from the non-Hindi speaking states from effectively participating in the tests.

The petitioner, R Thiyagarajan, had sought for a direction to the UPSC and Staff Selection Commission to conduct all examinations in regional languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

When the PIL came up for hearing before the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu Special Panel Counsel V Chandrasekaran appearing for the Union government and UPSC submitted that the petition was contrary to Article 343 of the Constitution and the relief sought ran counter to the Official Languages Act, 1963. Recording this, the bench said, “Without going into the merits of the matter, the petitioner is permitted to carry a fresh, detailed representation to the Union Home Secretary within a period of four weeks from date, whereupon the Home Secretary should deal with the representation by a speaking order within eight weeks of the receipt thereof.”

In legal parlance, a speaking order refers to an order that details all the reasons, including relevant facts and data, to explain why a certain decision was taken.