'Hindi Names Of New Criminal Laws Create Difficulty For Non-Hindi Speakers' : Advocate's Plea In Kerala High Court

The petition will be heard by the division bench comprising Chief Justice A J Desai and Justice V G Arun on May 29, 2024 (Wednesday).

The plea seeks the Court to declare the action of the respondent giving Hindi/ Sanskrit name to the Acts as ultra vires, direct the respondent to provide English nomenclature to the three Acts and declare that the Parliament cannot give name to the Acts in any language other than English

The petitioner mentions that Article 348 of our Constitution says that the authoritative texts of all Bills to be introduced or amendments thereto to be moved in Parliament or State Legislatures and all Acts passed by the Parliament or State Legislature and all Ordinances passed by the President or the Governor shall be in English language. The petitioner insists that the nomenclature of an Act is part of the Act.

The petition says that one of intention of Article 348 was the widespread use and acceptance of English language across various linguistic groups in the country and thereby to bridge the barriers and promote unity and understanding amongst the diverse groups in the country. It calls the action of the respondents 'linguistic imperialism'. The plea says that focussing on the dominance of any one language can lead to language based tensions and undermine the country's unity.

It is said in the petition that Hindi is spoken only by 41% of the total population of India. The majority of the members of legal fraternity in the southern part are not conversant with it. These names can create confusion, ambiguity and difficulty for the legal community of non-Hindi and non-Sanskrit speakers. Moreover the names are hard to pronounce for the non-Hindi/ non-Sanskrit speakers . Therefore, it violates the fundamental right to occupation given under Article 19(1) (g) of the Act.

“The nomenclature in Hindi and Sanskrit languages for these legislations would create confusion, ambiguity and difficulty for the legal community of non-Hindi and non-Sanskrit speakers, especially those belonging to the southern part of the nation. Moreover, the names provided for these Acts in the aforesaid languages are hard to pronounce for non-Hindi/ non- Sanskrit speakers. Therefore it violates the fundamental right, enshrined under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, of the members of legal fraternity.”

The plea has been moved by Advocate P. V. Jeevesh

Case Title: P. V. Jeevesh v Union of India and Others

Case No.: WP(C) 19240/2024