New Delhi: Tamil Nadu has added fuel to the fire in the ongoing debate about language in the country. The Stalin government of Tamil Nadu has replaced the official Indian rupee symbol Rupee with the Tamil letter ரூ as the logo of its state budget. This is the first time that a state in the country has changed the rupee symbol. This has come to light before CM Stalin presented the state budget.
The special thing is that questions are also being raised about Stalin’s move. This has happened at a time when the use of regional languages in official communication and documentation has been a matter of controversy. Now the question is whether the state has the right to change the rupee symbol in this way.
This is the first case of its kind in the country to change the rupee symbol. Earlier, no such step has been taken by any state. However, there are no clear instructions from the Center regarding the change in the rupee symbol. After this, it cannot be said clearly that this step by the Tamil Nadu government is a violation of the law.
If the rupee had been recognized as the national symbol, then only the Center would have had the right to make any changes in it. The rupee symbol is not in the list of national symbols. The Indian National Emblem (Prevention of Misuse) Act 2005 is in place regarding changes in the national symbol. Later this law was updated in 2007. Section 6(2)(F) of the Act also mentions that the government can change the design of the national symbols.
According to legal experts, if needed, the central government has the power to make any changes in the national symbol that it considers necessary. Under the Act, only the design of the national symbol can be changed, the entire design cannot be changed. However, many experts believe that the central government does not only have the power to change the design of the national symbol but can also change the entire national symbol. The reason behind this is that there is no such provision in the Indian National Emblem (Prevention of Misuse) Act 2005 that prevents the government from making such changes.
