Madras High Court vouches for English as language for communication between Union and states not adopting Hindi as official language

The Madras High Court has suggested that English should be used for the purpose of communication between the Union and the States, which have not adopted Hindi as their official language.

How it all started

Su Venkatesan, Member of Parliament, Madurai, affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on September 9, 2020, had written a representation to the Central Government, requesting for examination centres at Chennai and Puducherry for recruitment of CRPF Paramedical Staff Exam, 2020, as there was no centre notified. 

On November 9, 2020, Venkatesan received a reply to the representation in Hindi from the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Government of India, North Block. On November 19, 2020, he wrote a letter to the Minister of State for Home affairs, quoting the provisions of the Official Languages Act and asked the Minister to respond to the letters of Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu in English.

Aggrieved by the reply in Hindi and lack of response from the Minister of State for Home affairs, Venkatesan moved the Madras High Court, seeking use of English in all communication between the Centre and the State of Tamil Nadu, its people, along with the Members of Parliament.

Central government goes by Official Languages Act, all communications from Union to States made in English only: Centre to Madras High Court

Advocate M. Purushothaman appearing on behalf of the petitioner, argued on the provisions of the Official Languages Act and the Rules and Article 343 of the Constitution of India and a judgment of Uttarakhand High Court in the case of State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission vs Uttarakhand State Information Commission and Ors, AIR (2010) UTR 55.

Advocate L. Victoria Gowri, Assistant Solicitor General of India, submitted that the Central Government goes by the Official Languages Act and the Rules and there is no intention on part of the Central Government to violate any provisions of the Official Languages Act, 1963 and the Rules, 1976 and all the communications from the Central Government to the State Governments are being made only in English. 

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Order

The Madras High Court held that English language should be used for the purpose of communication between the Union and the States which have not adopted Hindi as their official language and directed the Union Government to follow the provisions of Official Languages Act 1963, especially, Section 3 (Continuation of English Language for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament) of the Act and the Official Languages (Use for Official Purpose of the Union) Rules, 1976.

The Madras High Court also directed the Central Government to seriously consider to amend Article 350 (Language to be used in representations for redress of grievances) of the Constitution of India, so that, not only representation is given in the languages of the Union or the States, but also reply is given in the same language used by the citizens.