Madras High Court: In a petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to direct the Union Government to take appropriate action to declare ‘Thirukkural as the National book of High values and virtues of India’ or ‘the National Literature of virtue with Ethics of India’ along with Constitution of India by the way of making an act and a notification with a declaration in the official gazette of Union of India , the division bench of R. Subramanian and L. Victoria Gowri, JJ. said that by its nature, our Nation has got several people speaking several languages and in such situation, if the prayer of the petitioner is allowed, it will result in every High Court in the country passing orders for recognizing a particular text or an epic or a book as a National Book of High Values and Virtues of India.
It was prayed that Thirukkural should be translated into all Indian Languages, and this should be taught as a curriculum in all the Educational Institutional functioning under Union Government and all State Governments from lower level to Higher Education. Further, it was prayed to direct the Union of India and State to take appropriate action to nationalize all Sangam period literatures in Tamil and it should be declared as ‘the National property of India’. Further, to take appropriate action to issue the awards in the name of ‘Thiruvalluvar’ like in the case of ‘Bharat Rathna’ for social activities and service to be awarded on Independence Day.
It was also prayed for erecting the statue of the Holy saint ‘Thiruvalluvar’ in the vicinity of the new Parliamentary building being constructed now alongwith a portrait of them describing his contribution of this nation and also ‘Thiruvallur’ name is declared as ‘the ethical and Spiritual Guru of India’ and his birth day to be declared as ‘the Spiritual and Ethical day of India’ and to be celebrated with a National holiday by the Union Government and all State Governments similar to Gandhi Jayanti.
Analysis and Decision:
The Court said that the declaration sought by the petitioner is not within the domain of this Court, it is the policy decision, which has to be taken by the Governments concerned based on the pre-implementation survey that has to be done.
Moreover, the Court remarked that by its nature, our Nation has got several people speaking several languages and in such situation, if the prayer of the petitioner is allowed, it will result in every High Court in the country passing orders for recognizing a particular text or an epic or a book as a National Book of High Values and Virtues of India.
The Court said that “we are not restricting Thirukkural to Tamil Nadu alone but at the same time, we do not want to open the Pandoras box, that will lead to complete chaos. Hence, we are not entertaining the Writ Petition”.
[M. Selva Kumar v. Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine Mad 4009, decided on 07-08-2024]
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