Haryana Fails to Implement Hindi in Courts Despite Language Act Amendment

Despite the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020 coming into effect over 15 months ago, Hindi is still not being used in the state’s courts. The law, which was notified on May 11, 2020, mandated the use of Hindi as the official language in all civil, criminal, revenue, and rent tribunals subordinate to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, effective from April 1, 2023.However, according to Hemant Kumar, an advocate and legal analyst at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the daily proceedings in the district, sessions, and other subordinate courts in Haryana have continued to be primarily in English. The amendment was passed by the Haryana Legislative Assembly in March 2020 and received the approval of the then Governor of Haryana, Satyadev Narayan Arya.The state government had set a deadline of six months from the commencement of the amended Act for providing the necessary infrastructure and training to the court staff. But even after 15 months, the transition to Hindi in Haryana’s courts has not been fully implemented, raising questions about the state’s commitment to the language policy.Despite the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020 coming into effect over 15 months ago, Hindi is still not being used as the primary language in the state’s courts. The law, which was notified on May 11, 2020 and became effective from April 1, 2023, mandated the use of Hindi in all civil, criminal, revenue, and rent tribunals subordinate to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.However, according to Hemant Kumar, an advocate and legal analyst at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the daily proceedings in the district, sessions, and other subordinate courts in Haryana have continued to be primarily in English. The state government was required to provide the necessary infrastructure and training to the court staff within six months of the amended Act coming into force, but this has not been done effectively.The amendment faced opposition from a section of lawyers who challenged it in the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, though both courts refused to stay its implementation. The Chief Justice of India at the time had observed that there should be no objection to using Hindi in courts as most people in the country are not comfortable with English.The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 has been replaced by the Indian Civil Security Code (ICSC), 2023, which under Section 307 empowers state governments to decide the language to be used in all courts except the High Court for the purposes of the Code

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