Even Nodal Deptt has not been nominated till date
*Only discussions at high-level meeting, no outcome
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 8: Though over one month has lapsed since the enactment of law by the Parliament yet the Government of Union Territory has not issued any formal notification for the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020. Even a Nodal Department, which will supervise the use of five official languages for all or any of the official purposes, has not been nominated till date.
The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020, which was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament in the month of September, received the assent of the President on September 26, 2020.
Accordingly, the Act to provide for the languages to be used for the official purposes of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and for matters connected therewith or incidential thereto was notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on September 27, 2020.
The Section 3 of the Act read: “With effect from such date as the Administrator (Lieutenant Governor) may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint in this behalf, the Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English languages shall be the official languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the Union Territory”.
Provided that the English language may continue to be used, for those administrative and legislative purposes, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for which it was being used before the commencement of the Act, read the proviso to Section 3 of the Act. Another proviso states: “The business in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory shall be transacted in the official language or languages of the Union Territory”.
However, even after the lapse of more than one month the Government of J&K Union Territory has not issued any formal notification for the implementation of the Official Languages Act, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “even a Nodal Department, which will supervise the use of all or any of these languages for official purposes of the Union Territory has not been nominated till date”.
“Without identification/nomination of Nodal Department, formal notification about implementation of the Act cannot be issued as in the notification it has to be mentioned that this particular department will ensure proper coordination for the effective implementation of law”, sources further said.
The delay in issuance of formal notification is notwithstanding the fact that the issue was debated in a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on October 12, 2020 at Civil Secretariat, Srinagar.
“In the meeting, stress was laid on the creation of section/wing on the official languages to facilitate the translation of Government orders, circulars, notifications and their hoisting in all the five official languages of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”, sources informed.
It was also revealed in the meeting that Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has already worked out to issue the Panchayat newsletter in all the five official languages of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
However, till date no such section or wing has been established, which otherwise was planned to carry out basic exercise for the implementation of Official Languages Act, they said, adding “the delay is notwithstanding the fact that people are anxiously waiting for the Government to issue orders, circulars and notifications in all these five languages”.
Moreover, no formal step has so far been initiated for the promotion and development of regional languages of the Union Territory, taking necessary steps to strengthen the existing institutional mechanism such as the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in the Union Territory although there is a provision in this regard in the Official Languages Act, 2020.
“The institutional mechanism shall make special efforts for the promotion and development of Gojri, Pahari and Punjabi languages”, read Sub-Section 2 of Section 4 of the J&K Official Languages Act, 2020.
“The Government should take all the steps so that implementation of the Official Languages Act begins without further loss of time and objective behind its enactment is achieved”, sources stressed.
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