HC seeks Centre's reply over exclusion of Pali from UPSC exam

The Bombay High Court today issued notices to the Union government seeking its response to a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging a notification of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) excluding Pali language from the exams this year.
A division bench of Justices S J Vazifdar and G S Patel was hearing a PIL filed by one Sunil Kadam seeking direction to the UPSC to include Pali language in the list of schedule languages.
The petitioner had challenged a March 5 notification of UPSC, which excluded not only Pali language, but Hindi and other regional languages. However, later a partial change was made to the notification allowing aspirants to take their test in any regional language.

"However, even after the change in the notification, Pali language and five foreign languages continued to be excluded. Pali is an ancient language and over 55 educational institutions across India teach this language. After Hindi, UPSC exams have seen most successful candidates from Pali language," petitioner's advocate Suresh Mane argued.
The bench today issued notice to the union government and sought its reply to the petition.