The Official Language of the Union

Read clause (3) as the escape valve the framers built. They fixed a date and gave a future Parliament the power to move past it without an amendment. It is the reason the language settlement did not require a constitutional crisis to change.

Article 344: the machinery for review

Clause (1). The President shall, at the expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years from such commencement, by order constitute a Commission consisting of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule as the President may appoint.

Clause (2), what the Commission is to recommend. The progressive use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union; restrictions on the use of English for any or all of those purposes; the language to be used for the proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts and for Bills, Acts, Ordinances, orders, rules, regulations and bye-laws; the form of numerals to be used for any one or more specified purposes; and any other matter referred by the President.

Clause (3), the constraint on the Commission. In making its recommendations the Commission shall have due regard to the industrial, cultural and scientific advancement of India, and to the just claims and the interests of persons belonging to the non-Hindi speaking areas in regard to the public services.

That clause is the constitutional statement of what this topic is about. The framers wrote the employment question into the Constitution itself.

Clause (4). A Committee of thirty members of Parliament, twenty from the House of the People and ten from the Council of States, elected by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, to examine the Commission's recommendations and report to the President.

Clause (6). The President may, after consideration of that report, issue directions in accordance with the whole or any part of it.

In practice the machinery has largely lapsed. A Commission was constituted in 1955 under B.G. Kher and a Committee under Gopalaswami Ayyangar reported in 1959, and no Commission has been constituted since. The Committee of Parliament on Official Language now functions under section 4 of the Act of 1963 rather than under article 344.

Articles 345 to 347: the States

Article 345. Subject to articles 346 and 347, the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State; until it does so, English continues to be used for the official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the Constitution.

Article 346. The language for the time being authorised for use in the Union for official purposes shall be the official language for communication between one State and another and between a State and the Union; but if two or more States agree that Hindi should be the language for communication between them, that language may be used.

Article 347. On a demand being made in that behalf the President may, if satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a State desire the use of any language spoken by them to be recognised by that State, direct that such language shall also be officially recognised throughout that State or any part of it for such purpose as he may specify.

Article 347 is the provision least used and most useful to know. It is the constitutional route by which a language spoken by a large minority within a State can obtain official recognition there, and it operates on a Presidential direction rather than on a State's willingness.

Article 348: the courts and the statute book

Clause (1). Until Parliament by law otherwise provides, all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court, and the authoritative texts of all Bills, Acts, Ordinances, orders, rules, regulations and bye-laws, shall be in the English language.

Clause (2). The Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of Hindi or of any other language used for any official purposes of the State in proceedings in the High Court for that State, but not in respect of any judgment, decree or order passed or made by it.

Clause (3). Where a State legislature has prescribed a language other than English for Bills, Acts, Ordinances, orders, rules, regulations and bye-laws, a translation in English published under the Governor's authority in the Official Gazette shall be deemed to be the authoritative text.

The article is worked in full in [The Language of the Courts and of the Statute Book].

A worked example

A State legislature in 2026 adopts its regional language for all official purposes of the State and wishes its High Court to work in that language.

Adopting it for the State. Article 345 permits it, and the language must be one in use in the State, or Hindi.

Communicating with the Union. Article 346, and the first proviso to section 3(1) of the Official Languages Act: English shall be used for communication between the Union and a State that has not adopted Hindi.

Proceedings in the High Court. Article 348(2): the Governor may authorise it with the President's previous consent, but NOT for a judgment, decree or order.

Judgments in that language. Section 7 of the Official Languages Act 1963 supplies what article 348(2) withholds: the Governor may, with the President's previous consent, authorise the use of Hindi or the State's official language in addition to English for a judgment, decree or order, and an English translation is then required.

The point of the example. The Constitution and the Act have to be read together at every step, and the Act supplies exactly what the Constitution withholds. That is why the two chapters are consecutive.

What this does NOT mean

It does not mean English ceased to be usable in 1965. Article 343(3) and the Act of 1963 provided for its continuance, and section 3(5) of the Act made the continuance effectively permanent.

It does not mean a State must adopt Hindi. Article 345 lets it adopt any language in use in the State.

And it does not mean the Union's official language is a national language. The Constitution has no provision on a national language at all.

Quick revision

Article 343(1): Hindi in Devanagari, international form of numerals. 343(2): English for fifteen years, to 26 January 1965, with a Presidential power to add Hindi. 343(3): Parliament may by law provide for English after that period. Article 344(1): Commission at five and at ten years, members representing Eighth Schedule languages; 344(2) what it recommends; 344(3) due regard to the just claims and interests of the non-Hindi speaking areas in the public services; 344(4) a Committee of thirty members of Parliament, twenty and ten, by single transferable vote; 344(6) Presidential directions. Article 345: a State may adopt any language in use in it, or Hindi. Article 346: the Union's language for inter-State and State-Union communication, with a Hindi option by agreement. Article 347: Presidential recognition of a language desired by a substantial proportion of a State's population. Article 348: English for the Supreme Court, the High Courts and the statute book, with clause (2) and clause (3) exceptions.

Test yourself

1. Set out article 343 in three clauses. Clause (1), the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script and the numerals are the international form of Indian numerals. Clause (2), English continues for all official purposes for fifteen years from the commencement, with a Presidential power to authorise Hindi in addition. Clause (3), Parliament may by law provide for the use of English after that period for such purposes as it specifies.

2. What was the Commission under article 344 required to have regard to? The industrial, cultural and scientific advancement of India, and the just claims and the interests of persons belonging to the non-Hindi speaking areas in regard to the public services.

3. What does article 347 permit? That on a demand being made, the President, if satisfied that a substantial proportion of a State's population desire the use of a language spoken by them to be recognised, may direct that the language be officially recognised throughout the State or any part of it for such purpose as he specifies.

4. What is the rule for communication between a State and the Union? Article 346: the language for the time being authorised for use in the Union. Section 3(1) of the Official Languages Act adds the proviso that English shall be used for communication between the Union and a State that has not adopted Hindi as its official language.

5. Can a High Court deliver a judgment in a language other than English? Not under article 348(2), which expressly excludes judgments, decrees and orders. It can under section 7 of the Official Languages Act 1963, by which the Governor with the President's previous consent may authorise Hindi or the State's official language in addition to English for that purpose, an English translation then being required.