English versus Hindi debate in high court
Even though Hindi is the official language of the Indian Union, the official language for the Supreme Court and high courts in the country as per the mandate under Article 348 of the Constitution of India continues to be English. Recently, while an advocate was granted permission by Justice Rekha Sharma of the Delhi high court to address
his arguments in Hindi, the said “privilege” was denied to him by Justice A.K. Pathak of the same high court subsequently in the same matter. English is the official language of the high court of Delhi, the pleadings and documents before the court are filed in English and the court proceedings are recorded in English while orders and judgments are also passed in English. However, despite that, Justice Sharma had allowed advocate Das Goninder Singh to make his submissions in Hindi.
The decision of Justice Sharma was seen as a step towards restoring the pride of Hindi. Mr Singh, throughout his career, had Hindi as the medium of education.
Advocate Singh, who sought to continue his arguments in the matter in Hindi before Justice Pathak, was, however, asked to argue in English.
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