The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant interim protection in a fresh petition challenging the implementation of the CBSE’s three-language policy and tagged the matter with a connected batch of petitions already pending before the Court.
At the outset, the Court took note of the petitioner’s name. When counsel informed the Bench that the petitioner trust was named “Friends of People for Active Democracy”, the Chief Justice lightly remarked:
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“Friends of People for Active Democracy… Is this kind of nomenclature to create fear in the mind of the Court or the people?”
Counsel proceeded to seek interim protection against the impugned CBSE circular. The petitioner urged the Court to grant interim relief pending adjudication of the challenge.
The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana, however, noted that similar issues concerning the CBSE’s language policy were already under consideration in a connected matter listed for hearing on July 14 and that extensive arguments had already been addressed in those proceedings. Refusing the request for interim protection, CJI Surya Kant observed:
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“We cannot pass a single-line order, Madam. You do not know that the matter has been argued at length. There is no question of interim protection.”
The Court thereafter directed that the petition be tagged with the pending batch of matters and listed along with them on 14th July.