AMRUTLAL POPATLAL PARMAR Vs. CHIEF SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this writ-application in the nature of a public interest litigation, the petitioner, a resident of Rajkot, has prayed for an appropriate writ, order or direction to the Central Government to undertake all administration work in Hindi, which is the National language of this country.

(2.) According to the petitioner, the party-in-person, although India became independent on 15th August, 1947, the people have not been able to overcome the obsession for English language. According to the petitioner, very little percentage of Indian population knows English, yet vested interest of a section of the society having advantage of being in higher posts on account of the knowledge of English are very keen to see that this country never adopts Hindi language for all purposes. It is also his case that the framers of the Constitution were aware of this fact, but few people's vested interest has stalled development of the official language and regional languages of India, more particularly Hindi, which is the National language of this country. It is also his case that due to the provisions of Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, the language of Hindi has been almost neglected and this nation has continued to use English language extensively for all purposes, although the same is a foreign language. In such circumstances, the petitioner has prayed for issue of appropriate directions to the Central Government to carry out all administration work in Hindi language.

(3.) Having heard the party-in-person and having gone through the materials on record, the only question that falls for our consideration in this public interest litigation is whether any legal right or any fundamental right of the petitioner could be said to have been infringed by the action of the Government in not discontinuing the use of English language?