Punjab's own language faces neglect in legislative process

Chandigarh, July 20 (UNI) Punjabi, the state's own language, has no legal say in Punjab legislature.

The only constitutional authority to translate all the Central and Punjab Acts into Punjabi -- the Punjab State Language (Legislative) Commission -- hasn't been able to fulfill its task since its inception over three decades back due to utter neglect by the authorities.

Constituted in 1973 under the Punjab State Languages Act to promote the state's own language, the Commission has not been able to translate a single Act passed in Punjab Vidhan Sabha so far.

''The Punjabi translation of the (Punjab) Acts passed in the Vidhan Sabha has never been sent for the Presidential reference,'' Vidhan Sabha secretary Nachhattar Singh Mavi told UNI here.

The Punjabi translation of the acts by the assembly staff, which is tabled in the house, was only for the convenience of the MLAs and could not be sent for the Presidential reference, he explained.

Instead, English was the only language in which the acts were being written and sent to the Governor for the Presidential reference, he pointed out.

At present, the Punjab Language (Leslative) Commission has almost completed the daunting task of translating 115 central acts with only a single Research Assistant at hand.

In the recent past, even some significant acts like the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2005, was not sent to the Commission, which has been facing an acute shortage of staff.

The Commission, headed by a chairman from the state judicial services, is presently having only ten posts, which include a Deputy Legal Remembrancer, an Assistant Legal Remebrancer, two Members, four Research Assistants, two Proof Readers.

The key posts of Deputy Legal Remembrancer and two of the four Research Assistants have been lying vacant for more than ten years now. One of the two Research Assistants has been sent to the state's legal services wing.

The translation of Right to Information Act into Punjabi is yet to be completed by the Commission, even though this significant Central Act has already been translated into the brail script in Uttaranchal for the blinds.

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