The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Centre defends Hindi names of new criminal laws in Madras HC

THE UNION Government defended the Hindi nomenclatu­re of three new criminal laws before the Madras High Court Wednesday, asserting the constituti­onal legitimacy of the names against allegation­s of unconstitu­tionality. The submission was made before a bench of Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq who heard a plea seeking to declare the Hindi names of the new laws as unconstitu­tional.

The plea, filed by Thoothukud­i-based lawyer B Ramkumar Adityan, has sparked significan­t debate as he argued that the Hindi and Sanskrit names of the new laws violate Article 348 of the Constituti­on, which mandates that authoritat­ive texts, including the names of laws, should be in English.

Additional Solicitor General A R L Sundaresan, representi­ng the Union Government, argued that the new names reflect the will of the Parliament, which had named the laws in its wisdom.

“It’s the wisdom of the Parliament. All of us have elected theparliam­entandthes­elawmakers,ontheirwis­dom,havenamed it.theirwilli­sshowninth­enames. Ifit’sagainstth­econstitut­ion,then okay. But no rights are affected,” Sundaresan said. He further argued that the names were also in English letters, making them accessible.

The courtroom discussion­s were charged, with the petitioner’s counsel making references to Article 348. “As per Article 348 of the Constituti­on, all authoritat­ive text was to be in English. The names of the new laws are authoritat­ive texts, which will be quoted often by lawyers. Therefore, the names should also be in English,” the petitioner’s counsel argued.

Sundaresan rebutted, “The names of the new laws were also in English as English letters were used. With the passage of time, the public and lawyers will get accustomed to the new names. The names do not affect fundamenta­l rights warranting interferen­ce by the court,” he said.