The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea calling for the introduction of a 24-hour Sindhi language Doordarshan (DD) TV channel [Sindhi Sangat vs UOI].

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra declined to entertain an appeal by an NGO, the Sindhi Sangat which had challenged a May 27 Delhi High Court ruling on the issue.

CJI Chandrachud also expressed doubts over whether the extinction of a language could be the basis for demanding the introduction of a dedicated TV channel in that language.

"There is a language - suppose it faces extinction.. No citizen can say that in pursuant to my fundamental rights, a separate channel in that language (should be) set up ... There are other ways which are more effective," CJI Chandrachud observed.

CJI Chandrachud further noted that there may have been more basis to demanding a dedicated Sindhi channel if the Sindhi speakers were from rural areas.

"Can citizens say that I want a separate channel in a language as a means to preserving the language ? ... If the community is rural, then yes, public broadcasting is important. But Sindhis are mostly urban... I should not be misconstrued.. It is predominantly a business community ... Mr. Jethmalani (late senior lawyer, Ram Jethmalani) is a luminary in the community," CJI Chandrachud observed.

Representing the Sindhi Sangat, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising replied,

"Even I am a Sindhi and, in fact, we are from the same village. It was Mr. Ram Jethmalani whose efforts led to the inclusion of the (Sindhi) language under Schedule VIII (of the Constitution of India)."

"Public broadcasting has a legitimacy, which private broadcasting does not have ... State has a duty to protect the linguistic interests," she proceeded to highlight.

The Court, however, was not persuaded.

"Sorry, we have dismissed this," CJI Chandrachud informed.

In May this year, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court declined to interfere with Prasar Bharti's decision not to start a 24-hour Sindhi DD channel.

Prasar Bharti had informed that such a move would not be sustainable since the population of Sindhi speakers in India, according to certain census data, was only around 26 lakh. The broadcaster had added that it is already telecasting programmes in Sindhi language on its DDGirnar, DD Rajasthan and DD Sahyadri channels which cover areas where the Sindhi population is mainly concentrated.

The High Court, therefore, declined to pass any orders to launch a 24-hour Sindhi language channel on DD, observing that the Sindhi Sangat had been unable to convince the Bench that there was a legal or constitutional right to seek the allocation of a 24-hour Sindhi channel on Doordarshan.

Aggrieved, the Sindhi Sangat approached the Supreme Court through Advocate Paras Nath Singh.

Arguing for the NGO, Senior Advocate Jaising today argued that the State has a duty to protect linguistic interests. She objected to the argument that since Sindhi is not a State language, there need not be a Sindhi TV channel. She also urged for the launch of a Sindhi language channel on concerns that the language was facing extinction.

"This (Sindhi) is the solitary language which does not have a State ... Perhaps the same with Parsi language ... There is a language in India which has no State to call its own ... If there was a State called Sindh there would have been a channel ... Do not link your policy with the territoriality of the issue since this language does not have a territory ... This is not the only language but (there are) many other languages which are becoming extinct in India," she said.

"But there was no data produced before the single judge. Before the Division Bench (High Court) also the prayer was only one, give us a separate channel in the Sindhi language," the Court replied.

It eventually dismissed the appeal after observing that the High Court had applied its mind to the matter.

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