Mumbai: Four advocates have approached the Bombay High Court against the circulars issued by the Civil Judges of Panvel, which direct that all petitions and applications be filed in Marathi.
Advocate Kokila Kalra and four others from Navi Mumbai have challenged a circular dated August 1, 2016, issued by the Civil Judge (Senior Division), and another circular dated August 4, 2016, issued by the Civil Judge, (Junior Division), Panvel.
The circulars direct all advocates and litigants to file applications, plaints, written statements, and replies only in Marathi before the civil and criminal courts in Panvel. The circulars also read if any submissions are made in English then word-by-word translation of the same have to be submitted in Marathi. If the order is not complied with by any advocate or party, no new suits, complaints, applications, written statements, and replies will be accepted.
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The advocates said this sudden change has caused undue hardship to advocates who are not conversant in Marathi or who don’t speak the language.
They said the circulars are arbitrary, without any authority of law, and that the Judges have acted in an undue haste without issuing any notice to the advocates practising in Panvel Court, before discontinuing the practice. They also said the circulars are ignoring the mandate of Section 3 of the Maharashtra Official Language Act, 1964. They have urged the HC to quash the circulars.
The matter is expected to come up for hearing this week.
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