Rourkela Intellectual Forum demands for use of Oriya Language in Lower Court

ROURKELA INTELLECTUAL FORUM (Estt. - 2.10.1999 : Regn. - SGD-4249/132-01) 1 March 2007

To Hon'ble Shri Naveen Patnaik,Chief Minister,Orissa: Bhubaneswar

Sub. – Use of Oriya in lower Courts.

Sir, Perfunctorily we may like to introduce before your goodself our organisation, Rourkela Intellectual Forum (RIF). It was conceptually originated precisely from 1997 by a few friends who, through their respective avocations, were aware that a democratic society might not prosper by harangue, recrimination, and defiance in and against all institutions and authorities. In order to give a shift, they wished to formulate processes through which a slow but steady changeover in the mindset of the people was possible for better realisation of democratic values. The idea was more in a form of auguring movements through peoples' psychological modulations than creating a formal organisation. As it was practically difficult to pursue the idea among brothers and sisters of this society with an unaccustomed and a hitherto unknown format, RIF was created as an 'organisation' with the declared motto: THINK BEYOND SELF. Since then RIF has been doing its awareness activities almost with religious accuracy.

Most respectfully we bring to your kind attention a point of the need of Orissa's common people and implore to submit before your goodself with a suggestion of a little change in the mindset of men who matter. This is about the language to be used in subordinate judicial courts in the state of Orissa. In closer circumspection one could find that the proceedings of such courts are carried out in English. Not only is it a matter of emotion, Sir, but delivers a crude reality. That judges and other officials of courts are all educated and competent in bilingual deliberations, where as, most litigants are illiterate or at best Oriya-knowing. Rendering and interpretation from Oriya to English are absolutely redundant. In most non-Hindi Indian states, there is tradition of use of their respective regional (official) languages, for example – Bengali in West Bengal, Telugu in Andhra Pradesh, Assamese in Assam, Gujarati in Gujarat, Kannada in Karnataka and so on and so forth.

But no body knows as to why such odd perpetuates in Orissa. Government works through Oriya seems impossible despite the Official Language Act, 1963 and a similar Order in 1985. It must be due to mental reluctance of the employees who receive salary for their job and bound by their respective Conduct Rules. Strangely, they are the people who get education in Oriya and subsequently create voids between the people and their governments. In this pretext, reckoning history, rather we have reasons to praise the British administrators who, in two phases introduced Oriya – 1837 in the Cuttack track replacing Persian by Oriya and 1903 in the Sambalpur track replacing Hindi. But use of Oriya in subordinate judiciary has its strongest logic. Unlike Executive functions, any action of judiciary directly touches the litigants – accused, plaintiff, defendants and witnesses. Any of such English-illiterate person does not know what he states before the Court and what is recorded about. Some body has to come out first from the cocoon.

Why not your goodself, Sir? Be gracious to consider our proposal and take steps to implement Oriya in subordinate judiciary in Orissa. We sincerely expect to receive your due consideration on the subject, Sir. Yours faithfully, Rabi Kanungo, General Secretary, Rourkela Intellectual Forum.