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Proposal on Hindi as court language draws protest

NEW DELHI: Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu on Wednesday forced an adjournment of the Lok Sabha for 20 minutes in protest against a proposal to make Hindi the language of judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts.

When the House met again, A. Krishnaswamy (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) protested against the proposal mooted by the Committee of Parliament on Official Languages.

The Committee had recommended an amendment to the Constitution to provide for delivery of judgments and decrees of these courts in Hindi.

Stating that the Department of Legal Affairs in the Union Ministry of Law & Justice had forwarded a copy of the recommendation to the Law Commission of India, Mr. Krishnaswamy said no further action should be taken on this front.

Intervening, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the Government was very respectful towards all languages and no decision had been taken in this regard.

The Tamil Nadu members had tried to raise the issue as soon as the House met for the day but deferred it till after question hour. However, as their notice was not taken up first, the members trooped into the well raising the issue.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House for 20 minutes.

Members of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him that no action should be taken on the Committee’s recommendation.

They reminded him that DMK president M. Karunanidhi had sought his intervention in facilitating the use of other languages, including Tamil, as languages of the respective High Courts.

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