A Constitution bench of Supreme Court of India comprising
Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and Justices Dipak Misra, Madan B Lokur, Kurian
Joseph and SA Bobde by its judgment dated 4th September 2014 in Civil Appeal
No.459 0f 1997 dismissed the appeal of the UP Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, which had
moved the top court against the state government's move to adopt Urdu as second
language claiming that the State Government’s decision had no rationale as
there was not much Urdu speaking population in the state.
Uttar Pradesh had adopted Urdu as the second language
through the UP Official Language (Amendment) Act, I989, which had added Section
3 to the UP Official Languages Act, 1951. While dismissing the appeal, the top
court said that there was nothing in Article 345 of the Constitution which bars
the state from declaring one or more of the languages in use in the state, in
addition to Hindi, as the second official language. The Sammelan had first
challenged the move in the Allahabad High Court and lost in 1996. It had then
appealed to the Apex Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that State governments have the
right to adopt any language as the second language as long as it is in use in
the State and figures in the official languages listed in the Constitution. The
Court observed that the States reserve this right in addition to having Hindi
as the second language. The Court clarified that there is no such impediment to
declaring Hindi as an official language even if it is not in use in the state
since it is the official language of the country.
Click below to read Full text of the judgment.
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/ca4591997.pdf
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