Language Policy and Constitution

                                              Language Policy and Constitution

Role	Name	Affiliation
Principal Investigator	Dr.Gyanendra Kumar sahu	Asst.Professor Utkal University
Content Reviewer	Dr.Gyanendra Kumar sahu	Asst.Professor Utkal University

Description of Module

Items	Description of Module
Subject Name	Law
Paper Name	Law and social transformation in India
Module Name /Title	Language Policy and Constitution
Module No.	XII

Language Policy and Constitution

Language to be used in Parliament and Legislature:

Mother Tongue: Art 120 guarantees that business in parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or in English. But chairman of the council of States or Speaker of the House of the People may permit any member who cannot adequately express himself in Hindi or in English to address the House in his mother tongue.

Business Transaction : Article 210 of the constitution provides that the business in the Legislature of a State shall be transacted in the official language or Language of the state or in Hindi or in English.

Language of the Union: Article 343 of the constitution states that official language of the Union shall be Hindi. Further for International form the English Language shall continue to be used for all the official purpose of the Union.

Commission of Parliament on official language: Art 344 (1) to (3) of the Constitution states that by order constitute a Commission which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages. The duty of the commission

1. The progressive use of the Hindi language for the official purposes of the union.

2. Restrictions on the use of the English language for all or any of the official purpose.

3. [The language to be used for all mentioned in Art.348(Bills, Acts, orders etc shall be in English)

4. Any other matter referred to the commission by the President as regards the official language of the Union and the language for communication between the Union and a State or between one state and another and their use.

Committee of parliament on official language: Art344(4) to 6 of the constitution states that there shall be constituted a Committee consisting of 30 members of whom 20 shall be Members of the House of the People and 10 shall be members of the council of states to be elected respectively by the members of the House of the People. The duty of the Committee to examine the recommendations of the Commission and to report to the President their opinion.

Regional Languages:

Official Language or languages of a State: Art.345 of the constitution states that subject to the provisions of Art.346 and 347, the legislature of a State may by law adopt anyone or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or language to be used for official purpose.

Special provision relating to language spoken by a section of the population of a State:

Art.347 of the constitution states that on a demand being made in that behalf, the president may if he is satisfied that substantial proportion of the population of a state desires.

 

Language of the Supreme Court, High Courts, etc: Art 348 of the Constitution states that until parliament by law otherwise provides all proceedings shall be in English Language.

Special directives:

Language to be used in representation for redress of grievances: Art 350 of the constitution states that every person shall be entitled to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance to any officer or authority of the Union or a State in any of the languages.

Development of the Hindi language: Art 351 of the constitution states that it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language to develop it, so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements.