Ahmedabad: Hindi is a foreign language to
farmers of Gujarat as it is not the language of the region,
the Gujarat High Court observed while dealing with a petition
objecting to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
publishing a notification in Hindi.
The observation was made last week by Justice VM Sahai,
who was hearing petition filed by a group of residents of
village Saraghvada of Junagadh district.
The court had concluded that by not publishing the
notification in Gujarati, NHAI had committed an error, and
quashed its notification issued last year in Hindi language
and declared the process as null and void. However, it refused
to cancel the entire project.
"If we go through the meaning of the word 'vernacular' it
is clear that the meaning of the word as per the dictionary
is 'the language or dialect spoken by ordinary people of the
country or region," the court said in the order.
"This is an admitted position that the language of the
region where the petitioners are residing, the language used
by them is Gujarati and Hindi language used in the
notification is a foreign language for them," it observed.
"The normal spoken language in the said region is
Gujarati and not Hindi. Similarly, government imparts
education in primary school level is also Gujarati in the
entire state of Gujarat including the region where the
petitioners are residing," it added.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 02, 2012, 17:00