Private persons cannot be forced to use Gujarati, sensitise them: Gujarat High Court

Private persons cannot be forced to use the Gujarati language, the Gujarat High Court said on Thursday while hearing a plea to strictly implement a circular for the use of Gujarati on display boards, signages and official communications [Gujarati Vichar Manch vs State of Gujarat]..A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the strict implementation of a circular issued by the State government on February 18, 2022. This circular mandated use of Gujarati for all official communications at public places and even private spaces meant for public use such as malls, cinema halls, restaurants, etc.When the matter was taken up for hearing, the bench pointed out that Gujarati was being used at most public spaces barring a few. However, the petitioner replied that private spaces such as malls were not implementing the circular in letter and spirit.Chief Justiuce Agarwal, in turn, remarked that the Court cannot issue a mandamus against private persons asking them to use Gujarati."You will have to sensitise the private people. They cannot be forced by an order of the Court (to use Gujarati). You start a 'muhim' (campaign) sort of a thing to sensitise people. You can start with public meetings, and public slogans, there are many modes of sensitising people. You can sensitise them not only mandating them to use the language but also about the benefits of using 'Matrubhasha.' We cannot issue any mandamus," the Chief Justice remarked..Chief Justice Agarwal also highlighted that wherever she has travelled in Ahmedabad, she has only seen signages and display boards in Gujarati and that she has started trying to understand the language by reading the same. The bench, however, disposed of the PIL with a direction to the State authorities to ensure the circular in question is implemented properly. .On a related note, on August 22, a bench led by Chief Justice Agarwal dismissed a PIL petition seeking directions to allow the use of Gujarati as an additional language in courts of the State.During an earlier hearing in that PIL, held in November 2022, the High Court bench led by the then Chief Justice Aravind Kumar had observed that allowing Gujarati to be a language of the court proceedings would have a large-scale effect.