Cabinet okays proposal for use of Hindi in lower courts

The state cabinet also decided to request governor Satyadev Narayan Arya to take the consent of President Ram Nath Kovind for the use of Hindi, in addition to English, for proceedings and judgments pertaining to the state by the Punjab and Haryana high court

The cabinet on Friday decided to make amendments to the Haryana Official Language Act, 1969, to authorise the use of Hindi for proceedings and judgments passed by courts subordinate to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

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The state cabinet also decided to request governor Satyadev Narayan Arya to take the consent of President Ram Nath Kovind for the use of Hindi, in addition to English, for proceedings and judgments pertaining to the state by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

A government spokesperson said it was necessary for the propagation of Hindi that the language was used in a day-to-day work. “The purpose of justice in a democracy is that the plaintiff should get justice quickly in his own language and should not remain speechless during the proceedings,” he said.

The Haryana Official Language Act, 1969 provides for adopting Hindi as the language to be used for official purposes in the state. The Act does not make any specific mention about use of Hindi in courts and tribunals subordinate to the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The Punjab Official Language Act, 1967 provided that language in the state shall be Punjabi. This Act was amended to ensure that work will be done in Punjabi in all civil courts and criminal courts subordinate to the high court and all revenue courts and tribunals, the spokesperson said.

A similar amendment will be brought in the Haryana Official Language Act, 1969 so that work in all courts subordinate to the high court and all tribunals constituted by the state government will be done in Hindi in Devnagri script.

The cabinet also decided that the requisite infrastructure, including the training of staff, will be provided within six months to ensure a smooth implementation of the proposal.

The spokesperson said in this connection the state government has also received a demand letter signed by 78 MLAs of Haryana, advocate general of Haryana and hundreds of advocates.

“The chief minister has also expressed his interest to get Hindi language authorised for use in the courts so that the citizens of Haryana can understand the entire justice process in their own language and easily put their views before the courts,” the spokesperson said.