Plea Against Use Of Urdu In Amravati Municipal Council Board : Supreme Court Issues Notice

A Division Bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice V Subramanian issued notice returnable in four weeks, in a special leave petition filed by an elected Member of the Municipal Council, Patur, District Akola.

The petitioner has challenged Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) order upholding order of Divisional Commissioner, Amravati directing name of the Municipal Council on board affixed on the newly constructed building of the Council to be written in Marathi and below that in Urdu language.

During the hearing before the Top Court, it was argued on behalf of the petitioner that 'the High Court has maintained the decision of the Municipal Council to paint the name of the Municipal Council in Marathi and Urdu for the reason that Urdu is the language mentioned in the VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution. Therefore all 22 languages should be on board, when the official language of the State is Marathi only'.

The petitioners were represented by Advocates Kunal Cheema, Satyajeetsingh Raghuvanshi and Apporv Shukla.

Details Of High Court's Order: In the present case, a Resolution dated 14th Feb 2020 was passed by the Municipal Council, Patur by majority deciding that the name of the Municipal Council on a board affixed on the newly constructed building of the Municipal Council would be written in Marathi and below that in Urdu language.

This was challenged by the petitioner before the Collector under Section 308 of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Township Act, 1965, on the ground that it was in the teeth of certain Government Resolutions, whereby it was directed that all communications and writings on boards would be necessarily carried out in Marathi language.

The Collector had then passed an order dated 15th December 2020, that Marathi language be used in terms of the relevant Government Resolutions and clarificatory circular dated 12/07/2019.

The Members of the Municipal Council had then filed a Revision Application before the Divisional Commissioner who partly allowed the appeal and directed that name on the board affixed on the new building of the Municipal Council shall be first written in the State language i.e. Marathi and thereafter below the same would be written in Urdu language, which is a language included in the VIIIth schedule to the Constitution of India.

A single bench of Justice Mainsh Pitale had held that the resolution of the Municipal Council was passed by majority and is still in force and it specifically states that the writing on the board on the new building of Municipal Council would be in Marathi at the top and below that in Urdu language.

The Court dismissed the plea holding that there cannot be any dispute about the fact that as per entry No.22 of the VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution of India, Urdu is very much included in the list of languages.

Case Title: Varshatai vs Divisional Commissioner Amravati Division & Ors

Click here to read/download the order