ARTICLES RELATED TO LANGUAGES IN INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Article 120: Language used in parliament

(1) Notwithstanding anything in Part XVII, but subject to the provisions of article 348,
business in Parliament will be resolved in Hindi or English:

Provided that, as the case may be, the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the
House of the People, or any person acting as such, may permit any member who is unable to
express himself properly in Hindi or English to address the House in his or her mother
tongue.

(2) If Parliament by law otherwise provides, this article after the expiration of a period of
fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, have effect as if the words were
omitted "or in English" there since.

Article 210: Language used in the Legislature -

(1) Notwithstanding anything in Part XVII, but subject to the provisions of article 348,
business in the Legislature of a State shall be settled in the language of the State or in Hindi
or English official

Whenever, as the case may be, the President of the Legislative Assembly or the President of
the Legislative Council or the person acting as such may permit any member who is unable to
express himself properly in any of the above languages to address the House in his mother
tongue.

(2) “Unless the Legislature of the State by law otherwise provides, this article after the
expiration of a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, shall
have effect as if the words "or in English "they were omitted there from: provided that, in
relation to the legislatures of the states of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and
Tripura this clause shall have effect as if the words "Fifteen years" occurring therein, the
words "Twenty-five years" were replaced: Provided further that in relation to the legislature
of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram, this clause shall have effect as if the
words "fifteen years "occurring therein, the palabras'se replaced forty years'.”

Article 343. Official Language of the Union

(2) Notwithstanding any provision in this article, Parliament may be a law use after such
period of fifteen years, de-

(A) the English language, or

(B) the Devnagari form of numbers,

for purposes that can be specified by law.1

Article 344. Commission and the Committee of Parliament on Official

(1) The President, within five years from the beginning of this Constitution and thereafter at
the expiration of the year ten such start finally constitute a Commission to be composed of a
Chairman and other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth
schedule that the President may appoint, and the order shall define the procedure by the
Commission.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Commission, make recommendations to the President and a-

(A) the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union;

(B) restrictions on the use of the English language for all or any of the official purposes of the
Union;

(3) In making its recommendations under clause (2), the Commission shall take due account
of the industrial, cultural and scientific advancement of India, and the just demands and
interests of persons belonging to areas-Hindi does not speak as regards the Council of States
to be elected respectively by the members of the House of the People and the members of the
Council of States, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by single
transferable vote.

(5) It shall be the duty of the Committee to consider the recommendations of the Commission
constituted under clause (1) and report to the President its opinion in the matter.

1
Union of india v. Murasoli maran , AIR 1977 SC 225
(6) Notwithstanding anything in Article 343, the President may, after examining the report
referred to in paragraph (5), issuing directions according to all or any part of the report.

REGIONAL LANGUAGES

Article 345. official language of a State-

Subject to the provisions of Articles 346 and 347, the legislature of a State may by law adopt
one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language to be used for all or
any of the official purposes of that State: provided that, until the Legislature of the State
otherwise provided by law, the English language will continue to be used for those official
purposes within the State for which it is being used immediately before the commencement
of this Constitution .

Article 346. The official languages for communication between one State and another or
between a State and Union

-The language for time may be authorized for use in the Union for official purposes will be
the official language for communication between one State and another State and between
State and Union: Provided that if two or more States are agree that the Hindi language should
be the official language for communication between such states, that language can be used
for such communication.

Article 347. Special provision regarding the language spoken by a sector of the population of
a State-

“In a complaint to be made in that the President may, if he is convinced that a substantial
proportion of the population of a State wishing to use any language spoken by them to be
recognized by the state, order that the language be officially recognized throughout this State
or any part thereof for purposes to be determined.”

LANGUAGE OF THE SUPREME COURT, HIGHER COURTS.

Article 348. language to be used in the Supreme Court and higher courts and Acts, Bills,
etc. (1) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, until Parliament by
law contains provisions contrary

(A) All proceedings in the Supreme Court and Supreme Court in each,
(B) authorized texts-

(I) of all bills to be introduced or amendments thereto to be moved in either House of

(I) all laws passed by Parliament or the Legislature of a State and all the ordinances
promulgated by the President or the Governor of a State, and

(II) of all orders, rules, regulations and ordinances issued under this Constitution or under any
law made by Parliament or the Legislature of a State shall be in the English language.

(2) However in any provision sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1), the Governor of a State
may, with the prior consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi language, or any other
language used for official purposes of the State, a process in the Supreme Court which has its
headquarters in that State:

Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to any judgment, decree or order passed or
made by the Supreme Court.

Article -349. special procedure for certain enacting law on language¬-During the period of
fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, any bill or amendment making
provision for the language used for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1) Article
348 is introduced or moved in either House of Parliament without the prior approval of the
President, and the President will not give its sanction to the introduction of any bill or transfer
of such change, except after he has taken into account the recommendations of the
Commission acting in accordance with paragraph (1) of Article 344 and the report of the
Committee established under paragraph (4) of that article.