Mumbai: The state language advisory committee, Maharashtra’s top body on matters related to the Marathi language, wants the government to scrap the Narendra Jadhav Committee, which was appointed in July to review implementation of the three-language formula in schools across the state.At its meeting in Nagpur on Tuesday, the advisory committee unanimously passed a resolution to abolish the Jadhav Committee and said it would submit the resolution to the state government this week.Narendra Jadhav, who heads the Jadhav Committee, dismissed the developments, saying, “Our work has started in full swing. I don’t want to be a part of this circus of pointing fingers.”The 29-member language advisory committee comprises academicians, authors and language experts. Writer Laxmikant Deshmukh, who chairs the committee, said the government had appointed the Jadhav Committee without any consultation with the advisory committee.“The demand to scrap the Jadhav Committee was unanimous. The government had already rejected the idea of introducing a compulsory third language in schools in July by cancelling the relevant government resolutions and there was no reason to revisit the issue,” Deshmukh said.The state school education department had, on April 16, issued a government resolution (GR) making Hindi, along with Marathi and English, compulsory in schools from classes 1 to 5, triggering widespread protests. On June 17, the department issued another GR making Hindi optional. Both GRs were scrapped in July, ahead of the commencement of the monsoon session of the state legislature, and a committee under the chairmanship of Narendra Jadhav was appointed to review the three-language formula.On September 5, seven members were appointed to the Jadhav Committee, taking the total number of members to eight. At its first meeting on September 17, the Jadhav Committee decided to launch a dedicated website and circulate a questionnaire to gather diverse views on how the three-language formula should be implemented across Maharashtra.During its meeting in Nagpur on Tuesday, members of the language advisory committee questioned the need for the Jadhav Committee, saying the National Education Policy did not mandate a third language in primary education.“The appointment of the Jadhav Committee has created confusion and risks undermining existing language policies in the state,” said writer and advisory committee member Shripad Bhalchandra Joshi.Students in Maharashtra are already taught Hindi onwards from class 5 and the advisory committee had consistently opposed the introduction of Hindi from class 1, Deshmukh said.“We will forward the resolution seeking scrapping of the Jadhav Committee to the state government soon,” he said.Deshmukh said the state of Marathi education in schools was also discussed during Tuesday’s meeting.“Members pointed out that although there is a law making Marathi compulsory in schools across the state, its implementation remains weak, especially in non-state board English-medium schools,” he said.The advisory committee will urge the government to publish a white paper on the current status of Marathi schools, Deshmukh said.“We will advise the government to collect reports from district-level Marathi committees and review them to assess the real situation on the ground,” he said.