The Supreme Court on Monday said that there was nothing wrong in preferring Hindi as the first language in subordinate courts as 80% of the people do not understand proceedings being conducted in English.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy said that Hindi remained the preferred language in large parts of the country.
The court was dealing with a plea by advocate Samir Jain against the Haryana government's order allowing use of Hindi as their first language in subordinate courts.
"This is not a question of fundamental right at all since lawyers haven't been stopped from practising. If English too can be allowed with the permission of the court, there is nothing wrong," the bench said.
The bench was quick to add that we are not saying that the Haryana government is wrong in making Hindi as the official language of subordinate courts in the state.
The court asked the petitioner to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court with his plea. The Haryana government's counsel said that HC can take a better view since it has all data on judges.
In his plea, the petitioner contended people from across the country came to settle in Haryana, being an industrial hub, and if Hindi was used as official language in courts, it would have adverse impact on different sections of the society.
(Published 08 June 2020, 17:23 IST)
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