Published Apr 10, 2026 | 1:18 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 10, 2026 | 1:18 PM
Karnataka High Court. (Wikmedia)
Synopsis: A Bengaluru resident filed a PIL claiming that Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa’s ‘statement’ that third language subjects, including Hindi, will not be evaluated during the SSLC exams. The petitioner said the move would affect the career prospects of students if Hindi is not deemed necessary.
Dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against an alleged statement by State Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, the Karnataka High Court on Friday, 10 April, slapped costs of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner.
The PIL was against the minister’s alleged statement on third language subjects, including Hindi, that they will not be evaluated during the SSLC exams.
Rejecting the petition, a Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha said it was based merely on three words in a newspaper report.
“You notice there is a controversial topic going on. There are issues, public views expressed. So best way to do it is put a litigation o a statement. It is not even a statement: It is three words in a newspaper report,” Bar and Bench reported quoting the Chief Justice.
A newspaper report said the minister had said that marks for third language subjects would not be added to the final SSLC marks, but be individually graded, meaning the marks would not determine if the student has passed or not.
Bengaluru resident Chandana filed the PIL against the minister, saying the move would affect the career prospects of students if Hindi is not deemed necessary.
Her counsel questioned the move, saying it may not be the correct view.
However, the Bench pointed out that the newspaper report mentioned by the petitioner, did not reflect any such statement.
The court noted that the statement did not contain “doing away with Hindi”, and initially slapped a fine of ₹50,000. However, as the petitioner continued to argue, the fine was raised to ₹1 lakh.
