Constitution of India, 1949
244. Commission and Committee of Parliament on
official language.-
(1) The President shall, at the expiration of
five years from the commencement of this Constitution and thereafter at the
expiration of ten years from such commencement, by order constitute a
Commission which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members
representing the different languages specified in the English Schedule as the
President may appoint, and the order shall define the procedure to be followed
by the Commission.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Commission to
make recommendations to the President as to-
(a) the progressive
use of the Hindi language for the official purposes of the Union;
(b) restrictions on
the use of the English language for all or any of the official purposes of the
Union;
(c) language to be
used for all or any of the purposes mentioned in Article 348;
(d) the form of
numerals to be used for any one or more specified purposes of the Union;
(e) any other matter referred
to the Commission by the President as regards the official language of the
Union and the language for communication between the Union and a State or
between one State and another and their use.
(3) In making their recommendations under
clause (2), the Commission shall have due regard to the industrial, cultural
and scientific advancement of India, and the jut claims and the interests of
persons belonging to the non-Hindi speaking areas in regard to the public
services.
(4) There shall be constituted a Committee
consisting of thirty members, of whom twenty shall be members of the House of
the People and ten shall be members of the Council of States to be elected
respectively by the members of the House of the People and the members of the
council of States in accordance with the system of proportional representation
by means of the single transferable vote.
(5) It shall be the duty of the Committee to
examine the recommendations of the Commission constituted under clause (1) and
to report to the President their opinion thereon.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in Article 343,
the President may, after consideration of the report referred to in clause (5),
issue directions in accordance with the whole or any part of that report.