“Only 9 States & 2 UT's Have Hindi As Official Language”: Plea In Madras HC Seeks To Declare Hindi Names Of New Criminal Laws Unconstitutional

The petition, filed by Lawyer Ramkumar Adityan seeks directions to the Cabinet Secretariat, Home Secretary, and the Law Secretary to take appropriate steps to provide English nomenclature for the new criminal laws.

In his plea, Adityan submitted that the Union Government has given Hindi and Sanskrit names to the new criminal laws. He added that out of the 28 states and 8 union territories in the country, only 9 states and 2 union territories have Hindi as their official language. He added that Hindi was not the mother tongue of 56.37% of Indians and yet the Union Government decided to name the new laws in Hindi and Sanskrit.

Adityan submitted that he had filed the petition in the interest of the law students, law teachers, advocates, law officers, judicial officers, and the common public who were not familiar with Hindi and Sanskrit and for whom the new laws would create confusion, ambiguity, and difficulty. He thus pointed out that the Hindi names of the new laws violated the fundamental right to practice any profession of non-Hindi-speaking people.

Further, Adityan submits that as per Article 348(1)(a) of the Constitution all proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts are to be in English. He added that the legislative intent of bringing Article 348 was the widespread use and acceptance of English which was widely spoken and understood across India transcending regional and linguistic barriers.

Adityan submitted that using English names in court ensures uniformity and accessibility allowing litigants and legal professionals from different parts of the country to communicate effectively. He added that using the English language facilitates access to legal knowledge as all legal precedents and literature is in English. Further, by bringing uniformity through the use of the English language, the likelihood of misinterpretation or misunderstanding is also reduced.

Adityan added that as per Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Official Language Act 1956, Tamil and English were the official languages in Tamil Nadu. Thus, the new Hindi names would be in violation of the Tamil Nadu Official Language Act.

Adityan emphasized that laws written by the legislatures should be understandable to the average man as well as a legal professional.