Press communique on Forest Amendment Bill: SC stays Madras HC order

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Madras High Court order, putting on hold a Centre's press communique inviting suggestions on the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, in either English or Hindi.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted before a bench headed by justice Dipankar Datta that by Monday the Lok Sabha Secretariat would publish the Tamil Version of the Bill. Mehta said it will address the objections by the petitioner in the case and further added that the high court should not have interfered in the legislative process.

The bench, also comprising justice Pankaj Mithal, said "there shall be a stay of the order of the high court. Issue notice".

On May 24, the high court had ordered an interim stay on the press communique and all further proceedings while hearing a petition filed by advocate G. Theeran Thirumurugan. The petitioner had sought a direction to the Centre to upload a Tamil copy of the Bill on the website, which would enable receiving suggestions in vernacular languages, including Tamil.