(1.) These three writ petitions can ber dealt with under a common judgment. The facts in these writ petitions are as follows:
(2.) During the Fifth World Tamil Conference held at Madurai in January, 1981, the participants including the foreign delegates expressed the need for the establishment of a Tamil Univesity in order to fulfil the long-felt aspirations of the Tamil enthusiasts and the people of Tamil Nadu. Tamil being one of the ancient classical lauguages, has contributed to the enrichment of civilisation in India in the fields such as art, culture, medicine and philosophy, to mention a few. Notwithstanding all these, there had been no separate University for Tamil. The Tamil language has its impact not only on the people of India, but has a deep impact on people in foreign countries, particularly, the research scholars. The establishment of a Tamil University would help research in Tamil language, linguistics, art and culture by Tamil scholars.
(3.) It was with this object that it was decided to establish the Tamil University at Thanjavur to help in this direction and to develop research in various facets of Tamil language. An Ordinance called the Tamil University Ordinance X of 1981 was promulgated to achieve this object. Thereafter that Ordinance was replaced by the Tamil University Act IX of 1982. Inter alia it provides under section 3 as under: