The Karnataka High Court has ruled that applicants can file petitions and supporting documents in Kannada before the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT), setting aside a tribunal order that had returned a Kannada-language application and directed the applicant to submit it in English.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashok S. Kinagi and R. Subramanya at the High Court’s Kalaburagi bench allowed a writ petition filed by Kalaburagi photographer Suryakanth bin Ramachandra Kattimani. The petitioner had asked the court to direct KAT to accept his case records in Kannada and permit him to argue in the language.
The case arose after KAT returned the petitioner’s original application, citing Rule 3 of the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1986, and instructed him to file it in English. The petitioner challenged that decision before the High Court.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s advocate, Shankar Kattimani, argued that Rule 3 of the 1986 rules permits the filing of documents in Kannada. He also submitted that the tribunal can allow the use of Kannada during hearings at its discretion, while the final order would have to be issued in English.
The state government’s advocate argued that applications submitted to KAT had to be in English. After hearing both sides, the High Court said the tribunal should have considered the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal Regulations, 1990, along with the 1986 rules. The bench held that KAT had failed to properly examine this essential aspect before passing the disputed order.
The court referred specifically to Regulation 9(iii) of the 1990 regulations. Under that provision, pleadings, affidavits, memoranda and lists of documents submitted to the tribunal may be filed in either English or Kannada. Read with the 1986 rules, the provision allows parties to submit applications in Kannada. The court also clarified that Kannada may be used during proceedings, subject to the requirement that the final order be issued in English.
The High Court observed that the 1990 regulations were introduced to facilitate the disposal of cases and the day-to-day administration of the tribunal. It said there was no objection or restriction under the applicable rules against filing an application in Kannada before KAT.
The bench quashed the order issued by KAT on June 5, 2025, allowed the petitioner’s interim application and directed the tribunal to dispose of the original application in accordance with law. The ruling places the language of tribunal access within the framework of existing rules rather than treating Kannada filings as an exception requiring a separate procedural relaxation.
