New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Saturday said she is “having a look at” the request of DMK ministers to answer questions in parliament in Tamil.
Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K. Azhagiri had said in Chennai last week that DMK ministers and MPs had requested parliament authorities to allow them to raise and answer questions in Tamil.

“The request is before me. I’m having a look at it,” the speaker told reporters here.

Citing precedents, senior Lok Sabha officials said that the ministers should answer the questions either in English or Hindi as the files containing the answers to questions are written in English and Hindi.

The MPs, however, could ask questions and make speeches in their regional languages, the officials said.

AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa had supported Azhagiri’s request that the Lok Sabha secretariat should extend an “interpreter service” to him to answer the queries of MPs in Tamil. She said ministers who do not know Hindi and English would remain mute spectators if an interpretation service was not provided.