Govt asked to clarify on holding competitive exam in Marathi

Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar: In the interim judgment, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Kishore Sant asked the State Government to clarify why it did not implement the court’s orders given in 2022 to decide the policy for holding competitive examinations in Marathi.

The Government will have to submit the clarification in two weeks. The next hearing on the public interest litigation (PIL) has been placed on September 30.

Petitioners Mangesh Bedare and others filed the petition through adv Krishna Rodge and adv Sabde. Mangesh did a B Sc (Agriculture) course from an open university in Marathi medium.

In the open university, this course is taught in Marathi while in other agricultural universities of the State, it is taught in English.

These universities have been given equal status by the government. Therefore, the job criteria of the graduates should also be the same.

For technical jobs in the agriculture department, the preliminary examination conducted by Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), had an option of language medium. However, there was no language option in the main examination. When the bench sought information from the State Government and the MPSC, only the Commission filed an affidavit.

The commission plans to conduct the examination for the jobs. It is not the commission's responsibility to see what the question paper should be given or what the syllabus should be there, and in what language the examination should be conducted in the courses. In fact, it is the work of the agricultural universities. The bench converted the petition into a PIL.

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High Court's orders for deciding policy

“In the future, the Government should decide the policy of conducting every examination in Marathi through the Directorate of Language. In view of this, the affidavit should be filed by the next date of hearing. The MPSC should consult the Government,” the HC bench comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Arun Pednekar had directed the Government on September 1, 2022.

The bench had also issued directives to take steps for the policy of providing an option of Marathi in every examination from the point of view of how justice is done with Marathi speakers.