The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the decision of the Telangana government to make proficiency in Telugu mandatory for being eligible for appointment as judges in the Telangana State judiciary..A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih rejected the argument raised by the petitioner, one Mohd Shujath Hussain, that Urdu has been excluded by the Telangana Judicial (Service and Cadre) Rules, 2023. "Not excluded. (Rule) only states that Telugu is also needed. Sorry. cannot entertain," the Court remarked.Earlier, the Telangana High Court had rejected the plea prompting Hussain to move the top court..The rules which came into force in June 2023 made it compulsory for candidates aspiring for judicial service to be conversant in Telugu. The exam scheme also provided for translation from English to Telugu and vice versa. Hussain's argument was that he had studied throughout in Urdu medium and the rules should have provided an option of being conversant in Urdu as a requirement for appointment to judicial service.He further said that Urdu is part of the cultural ethos of Telangana and it had been recognised as a second official language under the Telangana Official Languages Act, 1966.However, the High Court rejected his plea after noting that the decision by the State was a policy call taken based on the fact that Telugu was the most widely spoken language in the State.
