Consider school managements' plea on medium: HC to Govt

The High Court, on Tuesday, directed the State government to consider and process the application forms for registration submitted by Karnataka State Private School Managements Federation, who had sought permission to impart education in English medium from Class I to VII.

The petitioners, Karnataka State Private School Managements Federation, had contended that the State government had not considered their request to impart education in English medium for Class I to V and moved the High Court seeking permission to impart education in English medium from Class I to VII as the Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had passed directions to change the medium of instruction from Kannada to English for Class VI and VII too.  

The petitioners contended that the schools under the federation had applied for change of medium of instruction from Kannada to English for Class I to V before October 31, 2014, hence their application must be considered  The petitioners sought the court not to apply the notification dated November 11, 2014 for existing schools.

Justice A S Bopanna passed an interim order directing the State government to accept the fee as prescribed in the circular date November 11, 2014 and to keep other requirement in terms of infrastructure under abeyance. The bench also extended the deadline to submit the application form for registration till December 8, 2014.

The bench in its order said the federation members are permitted to re-submit the applications for registration seeking permission for Class I to VII in English medium directing the State government to accept and process the applications, the bench, in its order, also said the final outcome will remain subject to result of the petition.

Govt defends Kambala ban

The State government, on Tuesday, defended the ban imposed on ‘Kambala’ in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts and said the buffalo race had violated various sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

 Hearing the petition filed by Dakshina Kannada District Kambala Committee, Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed the State government to include Animal Welfare Board of India as a party to the petition.

The State government submitted its response to the petition filed by the Kambala committees of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada challenging the decision of Deputy Director and Deputy Commissioner to ban the event.

The State government, in its objection, said the event was not religious or traditional, but was inflicting unnecessary pain to the animals.  

The State government has said buffaloes are not anatomically structured to run, but in the Kambala event, the buffaloes are made to run the race by beating them, which is witnessed by thousands of spectators cheering and the animals run out of fear.

Kambala committees have contended that the government officials had totally misinterpreted the order of the Apex court for banning ‘jallikattu’ (bull fighting) in Tamil Nadu, and the provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, had been applied to ‘Kambala’ without application of mind.

The petitioner also claimed that ‘Kambala’ is a traditional folk game of the coastal areas of the State, the same was encouraged by the government at the State-owned ‘Pilikula Nisarga Dhama’ at Mangaluru. They denied that the buffaloes are subjected to any cruelty in the petition.