Official vs National Language Debate: What the Constitution and laws say
26-08-2023
01:25 PM
1 min read
What’s in today’s article?
- Why in News?
- What is the Case before the SC?
- Status of Hindi Language in Indian Constitution
- What is the Eighth Schedule?
- What is the Status of English?
- What is the Language of the Judiciary?
- How did this Situation Change over the Decades?
- Situation in Courts Subordinate to the HC
Why in News?
- Recently, the Supreme Court of India observed that although there are at least 22 official languages in the country, Hindi is “the national language”.
What is the Case before the SC?
- The top court was dealing with a transfer petition filed in a motor accident case that occurred in Siliguri, West Bengal.
- The plea to transfer the case from the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in UP to the one in Darjeeling was filed under the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) 1988.
- The Act allows an application for compensation to be made by the persons sustaining the injury in the accident.
- According to the petitioner, since all the witnesses of the petitioner are from Siliguri, language could be a barrier.
- Since the claimants had opted for the MACT in Farrukhabad, UP, and the same was permitted by law, the court rejected the transfer plea.
- The court held that Hindi being the national language, it is expected of the witnesses to communicate and convey their version in Hindi.
- If the contention of the petitioner is to be accepted, it is the claimants who would be seriously prejudiced because they have to convey their version in Bengali.
Status of Hindi Language in Indian Constitution:
- Though over 100 languages and 270 mother tongues are spoken across the country, the Constitution does not list any one language as India’s “national language”.
- Article 343 (1) (“Official language of the Union”): The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script and the form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.
- Article 351 (“Directive for development of the Hindi language”): It shall be the duty of the Union to develop and promote the spread of the Hindi language, so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all.
- This must be done without interfering with its genius, forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule.
What is the Eighth Schedule?
- There are 22 languages listed under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. These include Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Assamese, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, and Urdu, etc.
- There were only 14 languages in this Schedule initially, others including Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali were added in 2004.
- There are demands to include another 38 languages in the Eighth Schedule, such as Bhojpuri, Garhwali (Pahari), and Rajasthani.
- Notably, English is absent from the list of 22 in the Eighth Schedule. It is one of the 99 non-scheduled languages of India.
What is the Status of English?
- English, alongside Hindi, is one of the two official languages of the central government.
- Article 343(2): For a period of 15 years from the commencement of this Constitution (January 26, 1950), the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union.
- Article 343(3): Parliament may by law provide for the use, after the said period of 15 years, of - (a) the English language, or (b) the Devanagari form of numerals, for such purposes as may be specified in the law.
- The Official Languages Act 1963: It provided for the continuation of English Language for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament even after the expiration of the 15-year period.
What is the Language of the Judiciary?
- Article 348 (1): Until Parliament by law otherwise provides, all proceedings in the SC and in every HC and all Bills, Acts, ordinances, rules, orders at the Union and state levels, shall be in the English language.
- Article 348 (2): Permits the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purposes of the State, in proceedings in the HC after authorisation by the Governor and with the previous consent of the President.
- While the proceedings could be in any official language, it mandates that any judgment, decree or order passed or made by such HC must be in English.
- The Official Languages Act 1963: It dealt with optional use of Hindi or other official language in judgements, etc., of HCs.
- The Governor of a state can, with the President’s consent, authorise the use of Hindi or the official language of the State, in addition to the English, for the purposes of any judgement, decree or order made by the HC for that State.
- However, it shall be accompanied by an English translation issued under the HC’s authority.
How did this Situation Change over the Decades?
- In 1965, the Cabinet Committee decided that the Chief Justice of India’s consent must be taken for the use of any language besides English in the HCs.
- Thereafter, the use of Hindi was authorised in the HCs of UP (1969), MP (1971), and Bihar (1972) in consultation with the CJI.
- Subsequently, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Karnataka, and TN have approached the central government and the CJI seeking the use of their respective regional languages in the HCs in their states.
- However, the SC decided to not accept the proposals.
- In 2022, the Indian PM underlined the need to encourage the use of local languages in courts since a large section of the country’s population finds it difficult to understand the judicial process and rulings of the court.
- In subsequent remarks, (then) CJI N V Ramana said that it might happen over a period of time not suddenly.
Situation in Courts Subordinate to the HC:
- While Hindi and English are permitted by the HCs and the SC, usage of other regional languages is not. However, the situation for courts subordinate to the HC is different.
- The Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 states that the State Government may determine what shall be the language of each Court within the State other than the HC.
- According to the Code of Civil Procedure (1908), every court that is subordinate to an HC must use the language that was in use at the time the Code was adopted until the State Government directs otherwise.
Q1) What is the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988?
The Indian Motor Vehicle Act 1988 was enacted to solve the issues like sticking to strict procedures for granting licences and calculating the validity period of such licences, to maintain road safety requirements, dangerous and explosive material transportation rules, and pollution control measures.
Q2) What is the main objective of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language?
The Committee of Parliament on Official Language is responsible to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purpose of the Union.
Source: The language used in courts: What the Constitution and laws say