Previous Year Question

According to Article 343(2) of the Indian Constitution, the English language was permitted to continue for a period of 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution for all official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before the Constitution came into force.

The Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Therefore, this initial constitutional period extended until 1965.

Article 343(1) — Official Language of the Union

According to Article 343(1), the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.

Additionally, the form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union is the international form of Indian numerals.

Article 343(2) — Initial use of English

The use of English in administrative work was not immediately discontinued after the Constitution came into force.

Instead, the Constitution provided for the continued use of English for a period of 15 years.

During this period, the President was also empowered to authorise the use of Hindi in addition to English for specified official purposes.

Article 343(3) — Use of English after 15 years

Article 343(3) empowers Parliament to provide by law for the continued use of English for specified official purposes even after the initial period of 15 years.

The Official Languages Act, 1963, was enacted under this constitutional provision.

According to Section 3 of this Act, English may continue to be used in addition to Hindi for specified official purposes of the Union and for the transaction of business in Parliament even after 26 January 1965.

Therefore, the expiry of the initial constitutional period of 15 years did not mean that the official use of English was completely discontinued in 1965.