Centre tells Madras HC Hindi names of new criminal laws is wisdom of Parliament
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Chennai: In response to claims that the titles of three new criminal legislation are unconstitutional, the Union Government defended the names in Hindi before the Madras High Court on Wednesday.
The remark was delivered in front of a bench consisting of Justice Mohammed Shaffiq and Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan, who were hearing a case to declare the new legislation' Hindi names unconstitutional.
B Ramkumar Adityan, a lawyer from Thoothukudi, submitted the case, which has generated a lot of discussion. He claimed that the new laws' names in Hindi and Sanskrit are against Article 348 of the Constitution, which states that all authoritative texts, including laws, must be in English, Indian Express reported.
The Union Government's additional solicitor general, A R L Sundaresan, contended that the new titles represent the Parliament's decision, which had named the laws in its wisdom.
“It’s the wisdom of the Parliament. All of us have elected the Parliament and these lawmakers, on their wisdom, have named it. Their will is shown in the names. If it’s against the Constitution, then okay. But no rights are affected,” Sundaresan said.
He went on to say that the names were accessible because they were also written in English letters.
The petitioner's lawyer brought up Article 348 during the heated court proceedings. “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.