Court judgments should be in Hindi and mother tongue: Dr Upadhyay
30 Dec 2019 09:47:57
By Vikas Vaidya :
Amendment should be made in Article 348. Article 349 says after 15 years amendment should be made which is not being done till now, points out Law Commission Member
Dr Chandrashekhar Upadhyay, now a member of Law Commission has been consistently fighting for the judgments delivered in Supreme Court and 24 High Courts should be in Hindi and regional languages. As a part of his effort Dr Upadhyay will meet Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Governor of Maharashtra on Monday. Dr Upadhyay was in Nagpur as a part of his efforts. He has been fighting this language battle since over 20 years. “My only contention is 90 per cent public in India can’t understand English.
If judgments are delivered for them then they must understand every word of the judgment, for which the verdicts should be in national language and regional language too,” said Dr Upadhyay. The dispute began in Agra University when it was demanded by students to allow them write examination of Law in Hindi. University suspended the examination for one year. “The First Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dr Hedgewar had coined Hindi, Hindu and Hindustan. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi too say the same thing. The Article 348 says the judgments in Supreme Court and High Courts should be in English. It is a temporary arrangement on the lines of Article 370.
Prime Minister says the temporary arrangement should be removed. I also say the same thing,” explained Dr Upadhyay. Dr Upadhyay attracted the attention of everybody towards Article 370 that was abrogated. Article 370 was not changed completely, but two clauses in it. Article 349 says the amendment should be made in Article 348 after every 15 years, which was not done, added Dr Upadhyay. “As our Prime Minister Modi said the temporary arrangements should be removed we did it in Article 370. Today 90% litigants don’t know English. If they can’t understand English for whom the judgments are being delivered, then it is not good,” said Dr Upadhyay. Dr Upadhyay a Law scholar became the youngest top officer when he took over as Advocate General of Uttarakhand on August 24, 2004.
During his regime the Counter Affidavit in Allahabad High Court was submitted in Hindi for the first time in the country. It was in Anil Chaudhary Vs State case. Though there was compulsion that every affair should be done in English. It was accepted. Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to do so. The event became historical. Dr Upadhyay later became Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ (now Union Human Resource Development Minister) of his Law, Legislative and Parliament Affairs section.
Dr Upadhyay took efforts to get notification regarding Rashtrabhasha, Rajbhasha and Rajyabhasha incorporated in gazette notification in 2011. Gazette notification makes it clear, all Government Pleaders should work in Hindi. It was due to the efforts of Dr Upadhyay. But his joy knew no bounds when in 2013 a writ petitions was accepted in Hindi. “I am demanding like Article 370, 348 too should be removed. Parliament should call separate session and Maharashtra State Assembly too, should do the same thing. They should commonly make a resolve, now every single affair will be done only in Marathi or it should also be done in Marathi.
Those understand English their affairs should be done in English.” When Dr Upadhyay appeared in LLM 1991, he along with two others insisted to write examination in Hindi. Two students failed only Dr Upadhyay cleared. Later on he too was given poor marks. The battle reached Parliament, it is still going on. Dr Upadhyay lost precious years of his career but he is firm to fight till it gets justice.