Explained: CJI Bobde’s Suggestion To Amend Official Languages Act 1963 To Include More Vernaculars

Chief Justice of India Sharad A Bobde said on 13 August that the government should consider amending the Official Languages Act of 1963 to include more vernacular languages in governance, and not just confine it to Hindi and English.

The Chief Justice made this statement while hearing the Delhi High Court directive of 30 June to the union government to translate the 2020 draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification into all 22 languages listed in the Schedule 8 of the Constitution.

The union government had moved the Supreme Court against the judgement.

“We do not object to the high court judgement,” Chief Justice Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and asked him to file a review petition in the Delhi High Court itself.

He dismissed the appeal as withdrawn by the government and said that the government could come back to the apex court if the review plea failed.

The Issue

Activist Vikrant Tongad filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court asking that the government translate the EIA draft notification 2020 into the vernacular languages. He contended that the Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2010 was published in nine coastal languages.

The court concurred with the activist and said that the EIA should reach the maximum number of people all over the country so that people could study the draft and respond with suggestions and objections.

It directed the union government to translate the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2020 into all 22 languages in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

The government, on the other hand, argued that while the Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2010 was published in nine coastal languages, the final CRZ notification was published in the gazette only in English and Hindi. It also raised the constitutional provisions and Official Languages Act 1963 in its defence.

What does the law say?

Constitution of India 1949 provides for Hindi language in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. However, it also stated that the use of English language would continue for 15 more years, and after 15 years, Parliament can enact a law to provide for continued use of English language for specified purposes.

The constitution also asked the government to appoint a commission at the end of five and ten years respectively to make recommendation with regards to progressive use of Hindi language. A parliamentary would be constituted to examine the recommendations and report its views to the President.

As the end of the fifteen years drew closer, there were widespread protests in the southern states.

Keeping in mind the protests, the Government of India enacted Official Language Act in 1963 which provided for continued use of English alongside Hindi indefinitely. In 1967, the act was amended to make the use of English alongside compulsory in certain cases.

The constitution leaves it upon the state legislature to choose any one or more languages spoken in the state, and/or Hindi as the official language.

The members of the Parliament can speak in any of the 22 languages given in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and simultaneous interpretation is available for the listeners. A person can also speak in his or her mother tongue outside the eight schedule with the permission of the Speaker/Chairman of the House.

The Constitution states that the proceedings and orders of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and authoritative texts of acts, bills, ordinances etc. both at the central and the state level, will continue to be in the English language until provided for otherwise by a parliamentary law.

However, Governor of a state can authorise use of any official language of the state or Hindi in High Court proceedings. The Official Languages Act 1963 enables the Governor to authorise the same for the orders etc. of the High Court.

In both the cases, however, previous consent of the President is required. Similarly, the state legislature can provide for use of any language for acts, bills, ordinances, etc.

In all of the above cases, an English translation must also be published.

Since the Parliament has not made any provision for use of any other language in the Supreme Court, it’s proceedings and orders etc. continue to be only in English.

The Official Languages Act 1963 also says that the Hindi translation of laws etc. done under the authority of the President shall be deemed as authoritative (The constitution, by 58th constitutional amendment, also provides for an authoritative text of the constitution in Hindi language).

So, according to the constitution and the Official Languages Act 1963, the government publishes its material in its two official languages - English and Hindi.

This is why Justice Bobde asked the government to amend the act to make provision for simultaneous translations in other languages.

“These days, translation is the easiest task between you and Google translator. In Parliament, any language is translated. We are also translating our judgements into vernacular languages... You [union government] can bring your Act up to date,” Chief Justice Bobde told the government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

To this, Mehta quoted Albert Einstein, that a translation cannot be as evocative as the original version. It was like looking at the rear side of an embroidered cloth.

“But here it is from English to our vernacular languages,” one of the judges on the Bench replied.