Kochi | The Kerala High Court has asked the state government to consider and decide within two months a representation seeking implementation of a 1982 circular permitting use of Kannada language in official correspondence in Kasaragod taluk of the state.

A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M issued the direction on a public interest litigation by a Kasaragod-based lawyer who claimed that government departments and offices functioning in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar taluks were not accepting or processing applications in Kannada.

The March 5, 1982 government circular issued by the District Collector of Kannur declared the then Kasaragod taluk as a Kannada-speaking local area and permitted the use of the language in official correspondence.

The lawyer, in his plea, said that he had also made a representation to the government in January this year, requesting the issuance of necessary directions to all concerned departments for implementation of the said circular, but no action has been taken on it.

The government told the bench that an appropriate authority will consider and decide the representation if the court so directs.

Subsequently, the bench disposed of the plea and directed that the representation be considered and decided "in accordance with law, after affording a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner (lawyer) within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment".

"The reasoned order shall be communicated to the petitioner within a week thereafter," it added.