No funds for Punjabi as second language?

The seven-member committee after including various amendments in the report found that its implementation would involve “substantial expenditure”.

“The draft bill has acquired financial implications in the sense that the government will now have to provide necessary infrastructure in its various offices for implementing the provision in letter and spirit.”

This new financial angle to the issue has infuriated legislators who now believe that the government is not very eager to keep its promises.

Congress MLA Ajay Maken, who had moved an amendment to the Bill in March 1996, felt that the technicality was politically motivated.

“The Bill has fallen prey tothe tussle between Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana during whose time the Bill was introduced. The financial aspect raised in the report is a politically motivated technicality,” Maken said.

Saying that the prospects of the Bill being passed have been dimmed, he said, “The select committee report has made it much more difficult for the Bill to be passed. It only proves that the Government is not keen on passing it.”

BJP MLA Alok Kumar, who chaired the select committee, however, did not see it as a hurdle. “After agreeing to the amendments it was discovered that there would be a need for translators and equipment like typewriters,” he said.

He was confident that the Bill will be ready for legislation by the next Assembly session. “The Bill needs only to be cleared by the Lieutenant Governor, which is just a formality. I feel that once the Government sends the Bill to the Lieutenant Governor, he will give his approval,” he said.

In this context, the report quotes Section 22 (3) of the National Capital Territory Act 1991, which states, “A Bill which if enacted and brought into operation would involve expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the Capital, shall not be passed by the Legislative Assembly unless the Lt. Governor has recommended to that Assembly the consideration of the Bill.”

The committee has recommended that Punjabi should be used for applications and memoranda; documents from other government offices; important government orders; and government advertisements in Punjabi newspapers.

Another suggestion added in the report was that while Hindi should be used on signboards, all other languages (including English) should be used below it. The report also recommends a fine of minimum Rs 500 and maximum Rs 5,000 for violating the provision.

The select committee was formed in 1996 and the amendments included in the report were made by Gauri Shaker Bhardwaj, Jag Pravesh Chandra and Ajay Maken.