Petition filed in Supreme Court seeking to notify Sanskrit as national language

NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to notify Sanskrit as the national language while continuing with Hindi as the official language.

The PIL has been filed by former additional secretary to the Gujarat government, K.G. Vanzara, who is now a lawyer in the Gujarat High Court. Vanzara is the brother of controversial IPS officer D.G. Vanzara, who was jailed in connection with the Ishrat Jahan encounter case and retired in jail.

The petition sought a court direction to the Union government to notify Sanskrit as a national language.


Vanzara claimed that the national language status would be higher than the official language status accorded to Hindi.

This can be done simply by an Act or an executive order, without disturbing the present Constitutional frame, his petition said.

“Official Language cannot necessarily be equated with National Language. Both definitely can be separate.”

“India should learn from Israel who in 1948, made Hebrew, considered to be a dead Language for the last 2000 years, along with English as official/national Language of Israel,” the petition said, adding that the move would not face any opposition from any of the religions or castes

The plea said Sanskrit has "the biological scientific phonetic structure of Sanskrit, which develops the brain, rhythmical pronouncing and memorising capacity in children" . Even former PM had said “the greatest treasure that India possesses is and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Sanskrit Language literature and all that it contains,” the plea added.