Rule of Impossible Performance

Official Language of the Union of India ? Infirmity of Constitution ? Law of impossible Performance Hindi is an official language of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and the National Capital, the Territory of Delhi. Bengali is the official language of West Bengal,Manipur Tripura and certain other parts of the North-east. Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra. Punjabi is the official language of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,Haryana, and the National Capital, the Territory of Delhi. Gujarati is the official language of Gujarat. Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Malayalam is the official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka. Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh. Oriya is the official language of Orissa;Oriya is spoken also in parts of West Bengal, Chattishgarh and Jharakhand. Assamese is the official language of Assam; it is spoken widely in many of the seven northeastern states. Urdu has official status in the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir English is the co-official language of the Indian Union, and each of the several states mentioned above may also have another co-official language.
The legal framework governing the use of languages for official purpose currently includes the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, 1963, Official Languages (Use for Official Purpose of the Union) Rules, 1976, and various state laws, as well as rules and regulations made by the central government and the states. The Constitution of India, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e., on 26 January 1965. The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non Hindi-speaking areas of India. As a result, Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963 which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi up to 1965. On 23rd April 1963, while speaking on the Official Language Act, 1963 Shri Heerendra Nath Mukherjee said that we should not make any provision in our constitution to this effect that regarding Hindi or some other national languages, there would be any sort of impediment before the Parliament in making any law in future. To counter any decision taken by a democratic method, the veto power should not be given to any minority section be it even a very vocal.
In late 1964, an attempt was made to expressly provide for an end to the use of English, but it was met with protests from states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh. Some of these protests also turned violent. As a result, the proposal was dropped and the Act itself was amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament.
The current position is thus that the Union government may continue to use English in addition to Hindi for its official purposes as a "subsidiary official language," but is also required to prepare and execute a programme to progressively increase its use of Hindi. The exact extent to which, and the areas in which, the Union government uses Hindi and English, respectively, is determined by the provisions of the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, 1963, the Official Languages Rules, 1976, and statutory instruments made by the Department of Official Language under these laws.
Article 120, 210 and Part XVII (Articles 343 to 351) of the Constitution of India bear the provisions for Languages to be used in Parliament, Language to be used in Legislature and Languages to be used for the official work of the Union of India.
Article 120 of the Constitution of India provides for the Language to be used in the Parliament. According to the Article 120 (1), not withstanding any thing in Part XVII, but subject to provision of Article 348, business in Parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or English: Provided that the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, or person acting such, as the case may be, may permit any member who can not adequately express himself in Hindi or English to address the House in his mother-tongue.
Article 120 (2) the Constitution of India provides that : Unless Parliament by law otherwise provides, this article shall after the expiration of period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution have effect as if the words "or in English" were omitted there from.
According to the Article 210 (1), not withstanding any thing in Part XVII, but subject to provision of Article 348, business in Legislature of a State shall be transacted in the official language or languages of the State or in Hindi or English: Provided that the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly or the Chairman of the Legislative Council, or person acting such, as the case may be, may permit any member who cannot adequately express himself in any of the languages aforesaid to address the House in his mother-tongue.
Article 120 (2) of the Constitution of India provides that : Unless the Legislature of the State by law otherwise provides, this article shall after the expiration of period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution have effect as if the words "or in English" were omitted there from: [Provided that in relation to the [Legislatures of the States of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalay and Tripura] this clause shall have effect as if for the words "fifteen years" occurring therein, the words "twenty-five years" be substituted.] (Amended in 1977). [Privided further that in relation to the [Legislatures of the States of [Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram]] this clause shall have effect as if for the words "fifteen years" occurring therein, the words "forty years" be substituted.] (amended in 1986, 1986 and 1987 and 1987 respectively). {Virtually the period has already expired in 1975 and 1990}.
The Respective State Legislatures did not further extend the period instead are implementing their Language Policy. But the Parliament has, instead extending the period to a suitable date, abolished the time limit and by amending the Official Language Act, 1963, in the Sec. 3(iii) (5) provided that English language shall remain in force until resolutions for the discontinuance of the use of the English language for the purposes mentioned therein have been passed by the legislatures of all the States which have not adopted Hindi as their Official Language and until after considering the resolution aforesaid, a resolution for such discontinuance has been passed by each House of Parliament. The Parliament, on the basis of Articles-120, 210 and 343 to 351 has enacted the Official Language Act, 1963 and amended the same in 1967 which provides for continuance of English even after the expiration of fifteen years from 26 January 1950 with no definite period or any specific date as was earlier fixed as 26 January 1965.
In the circumstances expressed above it is evident that it has made practically the situation impossible to such an extent that Hindi will never be in a position to replace English as to what to say about other states one of the states of the Union of India i.e., Nagaland has not till today declared its Language and preferred to use English as provided in the Article 345 of the Constitution of India. In the light of provision in Sec. 343(3) (a) and Article 345 it is evident that theory of impossible performance applies in this regard. Since the Official Language Act, 1963 as amended in 1967 puts restriction on becoming Hindi de facto Official language of the Union of India, it violates the constitutional rights of citizens of India. Hence, it is unconstitutional and needs to be declared unconstitutional and set aside. It is also imperative to direct the Government of India to fix a suitable time limit to replace English with Hindi in every field.