The Karnataka High Court has directed the Karnataka government to relax the requirement for Kannada language signboards in commercial establishments.
The court’s directive came in response to a petition challenging the legality of the state government’s order mandating Kannada signage.
The court observed that while promoting Kannada is important, imposing such requirements should not infringe on the rights of individuals or businesses. The relaxation is expected to provide relief to non-Kannada speaking entrepreneurs and businesses operating in the state.
Justice M Nagaprasanna listened to a complaint from the Retailers Association of India. The complaint was about a rule made by the government saying that if most of the signs in shops are not in Kannada, the shops could be closed.
The judge thought this rule was not fair. So, the judge said the government cannot close shops for not having enough Kannada signs until the case is decided. The judge also mentioned that a similar rule about using Kannada in shops was challenged in court before and the court disagreed with it. During the discussion, the judge suggested that having just a few lines in Kannada on the signs might be okay, instead of shutting down shops.
Govt of Karnataka is going against Article 19A. Even with Tulunad people and In Tulunad Kannada is not at all the language of Land. And Tulu is our Mother tongue . In democratic country Tulunad and Tulu people should have freedom choice in selecting our official language either Hindi or English and primary official language as Tulu. I condemn this act of Govt of Karnataka as a state for stealing our democratic rights
As per indian constitution There is no land called tulunad and a language called tulu….go & refer constitution and then cite the articles of the Constitution
As per constitution imposing such rules may not hold good. But once non Kannadigas living happily and peacefully in Karnataka using all the resources of Karnataka it is moral ethics to love Kannada and Kannada people. Other wise it is unhuman and ego of non Kannadigas. It applies to all state languages. A.Mallikarjun Bengaluru