File reply in PIL to make Marathi lang official in lower courts: HC

Mumbai, June 14 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today directed the state to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by six advocates and a social worker for implementing Marathi as the official language for courts across the state below the High Court.

A division bench comprising Justices R M Lodha and A S Bagga said ATR be filed within four weeks following submission by Additional Government Pleader Pradeep Patil contending that 30 Marathi stenographers had already been appointed by May 11 this year.

Petitioner Advocate Vasant Yashwant Mestry submitted that under Code for Civil Procedure, section 137 deals with language wherein it is provided that English is the language of the lower courts unless a notification is issued by the state government determining the language as any other. The state has the power to change the language of all the civil courts subordinate to the High Court.

Accordingly, a notification had been issued by the Maharashtra government on July 27, 1998 directing the official language for all courts upto district level including taluka and sessions court as Marathi. The same had been accepted by the High Court in 1999 but it had not been implemented.

He also informed the court that the process of implementation of the state language in lower courts had already been initiated in states like madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala.

The petitioner also contended that language should not come in the way of dispension of justice. A person should not be thrown out of the court and denied justice just for the sake of the language and prayed that the notification be implemented.

Advocate Patil then told the court that the process had been started but neither books nor infrastructure was available and would take some time.

UNI ARM KU RA ND2350