The Himachal Pradesh High Court has rejected a public interest lawsuit asking the state government to establish Pahari (Himachali) as one of the state’s official languages because it lacks its own script and the dialect varies from district to district and even within a district.
The division bench, comprised of chief justice Mohammad Rafiq and justice Sabina, observed in its November 8 order on the PIL filed by Jwalamukhi resident Arsh Dhanotia that such directions cannot be issued to the state government until it is established on record that the Pahari (Himachali) language has its own script and that a common Pahari dialect is spoken throughout the state.
According to the New Education Policy, 2020, the petitioner sought the court to direct the government to support research toward a long-term formal Pahari nuclear language structure and Tankri script to promote local languages as the medium of instruction in primary and middle schools.
He sought to include Pahari as a separate category for the 2021 Census and simultaneously undertake a campaign to create awareness among the masses, particularly the youth, to get Pahari marked as their mother tongue in the Census.
The court said that in response to the query, the counsel for the petitioner did not dispute that Pahari dialect differs from area to area.
Advocate General Ashok Sharma also submitted that not only would the Pahari dialects differ from one district to another but even in a single district.
“We, however, set the petitioner at liberty to approach the department of language art and culture with his demand for undertaking research to promote a common Pahari nuclear language structure and Tankri script,” said the court.
It would be for the authority concerned to consider the same in accordance with law, it added.
