The State of Haryana vide notification dated 11th May 2020 notified that “Hindi” should be used in all Court and Tribunal in Haryana. The state of Haryana amended section 3 of “The Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 1969” and this Act called as “The Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020.”
The Haryana cabinet earlier in the first week of May had approved introduction of Hindi in subordinate courts in the State. The Vidhan Sabha had passed the Bill to pave way for implementation of the decision. 78 MLAs, Advocate General and hundreds of advocates, had expressed their interest to get Hindi language authorized for use in the courts so that the citizens of Haryana can understand the entire process in their own language and can easily put their views before the Courts.
The relevant portion of amendment is reproduced as under:
After section 3 of the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 1969, the following section shall be inserted namely:
“3-A. Use of Hindi in Courts and Tribunals:- (1) In all Civil Courts and Criminal Courts in Haryana subordinate to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, all revenue Courts and Rent Tribunals or any other court or tribunal constituted by the State Government, work shall be done in Hindi language.
(2). The State Government shall provide the requisite infrastructure and training of staff within six months for the commencement of the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Explanation:- For the purpose of this section, the words ‘Civil Court’ and Criminal Courts’ shall have the same as respectively assigned to them in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act 5 of 1908) and the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974)”.
Earlier the section 3 of the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 1969, read as under:
Section 3. Official language for official purposes of State: – (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, Hindi shall, as from the appointed day, be the first language to be used for all official purpose of the State of Haryana except such purposes as the State Government may, by notification, specify and the language in use for such excepted purposes immediately before the appointed day may be used as official language for such purposes.
(2) The State Government may, by notification, specify that Punjabi shall be the second language to be used for all such official purposes which the State Government may deem fit.
-India Legal Bureau