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1989 Supreme(Raj) 468

Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench
M.B. Sharma & I.S. Israni, JJ.
Narendra Kumar - Appellant
Versus
Rajasthan High Court & Others (165) - Respondents
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2876 of 1987
Decided On : December 05, 1989

Advocates Appeared:
G.L. Acharya, N. L. Jain, A. S. Chaturvedi &U. K. Chaturvedi, for Petitioner Dinesh Chand Swami, Advocate General, Prem Asopa, for Respondent No. 1 N.C. Chaudhary, for Intervener.

Headnote:(a) Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949- Ss. 46 and 47- Ss—Language to be used in High Court for Judgments, decrees and orders— S. 47— Ordinance provides Hindi language for all proceedings- Rules framed by High Court under section 46—After coming into force of Constitution Article 348 is attracted-S. 47 and Rules (Rules of High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, 1952; Rules 125 and 225) are not applicable. (Para 2)(b) Constitution of India-Articles- 225, 344 and 348-Official .Language Act, 1963—S. 7—Use of Hindi as optional language—Permissibility—Not unconstitutional—It is in accordance with Presidential Order under Article 344 (6)—$. 7 of Official Language Act is not inconsistent— Judgments, decrees and orders of High Court are to be accompanied by translation of the same in English language—Translation will be authenticated under the authority of the High Court—Such translation will be sufficient compliance with the provisions of section 7 of the Official Language Act.

       

M.B. SHARMA J.:—In the present writ petition a question of far-reaching importance is involved as to whether in view of S. 47 of the Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949 (for short *the Ordinance) all the proceedings in this Court including the judgments, orders and decrees should only be written in Hindi Devnagari Script, which has been declared as Official Language of the Court.

2. Section 47 of the Ordinance reads as under:

"47 Language of the Court—All proceedings in the High Court shall be in Hindi written in Devnagari Script which will be the language of the Court.

Provided that where a Judge hearing a case is not familiar with Hindi the proceedings may be conducted by him in English."

Section 46 of the Ordinance vests power in the High Court to make the Rules consistently with the laws for the time being in force to regulate the sittings of the court, and in exercise of the aforesaid powers and the powers conferred under Art. 225 of the Constitution of India and all other powers enabling in that behalf the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan made the Rules of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, 1952 (for short the Rules). Under R. 125 of the Rules every memorandum of appeal or objection and every application, other than an application made in any case pending in the Court, shall be in the language of the Court and shall bear the particulars mentioned therein. Under R. 126 of the Rules every application made in a case pending in the Court shall be-in the language of the Court and shall state, the section and the Act or the Rule under which it is made. As already stated earlier, under S. 47 of the Ordinance, Hindi written in Devnagari Script is language of the Court. Assuming for the sake of arguments that the words all proceedings in S. 47 of the Ordinance includes judgments, orders and decrees, in our opinion, this position could continue till the coming into force of the Constitution of India. So far as Part XVII of the Constitution of India is concerned, it is the relevant part in so far as Official Language of the Union including language to be used in the Supreme Court and High Courts is concerned. It came into force on January 26, 1950, which day has been referred as the day of commencement of the Constitution of India. After coming into force of the Constitution of India the provisions of the Constitution shall prevail and all. provisions of any existing law in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of India will have no application. Therefore, when Part XVII of the Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950, and its Chapter III and more so its Art. 348 provides for the use of (sic) language to be used in the Supreme Court and High Courts, the provisions of S. 47 of the Ordinance including Rr. 125 and 126 of the Rules framed under S. 46 of the Ordinance, could not be applicable and clause (1) of Art. 348 of the Constitution which starts which non-obstante clause became applicable and all the proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts could only be in the English language unless so far as the High Court of the State is concerned, the Governor of the State with the previous consent of the President authorities under Art. 348 (2) of the Constitution of India the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purposes in the State in proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that State. But in view of the proviso to clause (2) of Art. 348 of the Constitution of India nothing in that clause shall apply to any judgement, decree or order passed or made by such High Court. We therefore, find no substance in the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner and other counsel who were allowed to intervener that in view, of S. 47 of the Ordinance even after coming into force of Part XVII of the Constitution of India as aforesaid all proceedings including judgments, decrees and orders of the High Court have to be in Hindi

























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