Maharashtra Government should implement its policy to promote Marathi seriously: HC

The court further said its order would help in implementing the Maharashtra Government's policy of promoting Marathi, the language of the State

The Maharashtra Government should implement seriously its policy to promote Marathi language, the Bombay High Court has said while directing it to henceforth hold the public prosecutor recruitment exam in the State in Marathi also.

A division bench of Justices S.V. Gangapurwala and R.N. Laddha passed the order on September 7 on a petition filed by one Pratap Jadhav, seeking that the exam for the posts of public prosecutors be conducted in Marathi also instead of only English.

The order was made available on Saturday.

Mr. Jadhav had said he studied in Marathi since school, and that proceedings before the courts of Judicial Magistrate First Class and Civil Judge Junior Division are normally conducted in Marathi language.

Marathi is a local language, he said.

The high court in its order said the Maharashtra Government ought to have been serious on the issue.

"The government cannot say that for the examination of the magistrates and civil judges can be provided for answering in Marathi language and for the examination of Public Prosecutor the same facility would not be provided. In fact, it is the general stand of the government to promote the local language [Marathi]," the HC said.