A judge of the Madras High Court bench here on Friday stated in the court hall that advocates could present their cases in Tamil.
Justice S.Manikumar made the oral declaration after the advocates raised a furore over his recent judgment dismissing two cases after G.Bhagavath Singh, an advocate, insisted on presenting them in Tamil. When the cases came up for hearing last week, Mr.Singh insisted that he wanted to present the cases in Tamil, but Justice Manikumar denied him permission and dismissed them, citing the Constitutional Law and Supreme Court judgments.
“Article 348 of the Constitution reads that all the proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be in English. Having regard to the Constitutional Provision and the binding effect of the Constitutional Bench judgment of the apex court, this court is unable to accept the request of the counsel for the petitioners,” the judge ruled.
The dismissal orders were widely criticised by the advocates. The members of the Madurai Bar Association said they had a meeting with Justice Manikumar a few days ago and he agreed to recall his judgment. Earlier this week, the case was listed in Justice Manikumar’s court for hearing.
However, Mr.Bhagavath Singh refused to present his case before the judge. On Friday, around 30 advocates from Madurai Bar Association, headed by its secretary A.K.Ramasamy, were present in the court hall when the case came up for hearing.
They urged Justice Manikumar to make a declaration that advocates could argue in Tamil in the High Court. Subsequently, the judge made the declaration.
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