The Assam Official Language Act,1960

The 17th December 1950 No.LJL.35/60. - -The following Act of the Assam Legislative Assembly which received the assent of the Governor is hereby published for general information. Received the assent of the Governor on the 17th December 1960 ASSAM ACT No.XXXIII OF 1960 THE ASSAM OFFICIAL LANGUAGE ACT, 1960 (As passed by the Assembly) [Published in the Assam Gazette, Extraordinary, dated the 19th December I 960] An Act to declare the Official Lanpiiat’c of the State of Assam. • Preamble. Whereas Article 345 of the Constitutjon provides that the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State as the language to be used for official purposes of the Stat? and for matters hereinafter appear­ ing ; * It is hereby enacted in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India, as follows : ... .Short title, ]. (i) 'this Act may be called die Assam Official Language extent and A < £ | 9 6 ( j commence­ ment. (2) it extends to the whole, ot trie biate ot Assam. (3) h shall come into force on such date as the Slate Government may, by notification, in the official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different. official pur­ poses and for different parts of the State of Assam : Provided that the date m dates appointed by the State Government in respect of any of tile parts oi the State ot Assam shall not be later than live years limn the date the assent to this Act is first published in the official Gazette. OefiniUms. 2 - 1(1 t h i s A d ’ u l l l “ s t l l e l e is anything repugnant in the subject ot context : (a) “Autonomous District” means an area deemed as such under paragraph 1 (1) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. (b) “Autonomous Region” means an area deemed as' such under paragraph 1 (2) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. (c) “District Council'’ means a District Council constitu­ ted under paragraph 2 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of indja. (d) “ Mohkuma Padshah'1 means a Mohkmna Parishad Assam established under the Assam Panchavat Act, 1959 XXIV 1959. (e) ̂ 14 Municipal Board” means a Municipal Board establi­ shed under the Assam Municipal Act, 1956 and shall Assam include Town Committees established under the said X V of IS Act. (1) “ Prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act. fg) “Regional Council” means a Regional Council cons­ tituted under paragraph 2 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. Official ian- 3. Without prejudice to the. provisions of Articles 346 and. guage foi 347 of the Constitution of India and .subject as hereinafter offi c i al provided, Assamese shall be used for all or any of the official ufU rf,°thc# Purposes of the State of Assam : State of Assam. ' ’ , 3 Provided that the English language, so long as the use thereof is permissible under Article 343 of the Constitution of India, and thereafter Hindi in place of English, shall also be used for such official purposes of the Secretariat and the offices of the Heads of the Departments of the State Government and in such manner as may be prescribed ; Provided further that, (a) all Ordinances promulgated under Article 213 of the Constitution of India ; (b) all Acts passed by the State Legislature; (c) all Bills to be introduced or amendments thereto to be moved in the Stale Legislature ; and (d) all Orders, Regulations, Rules and Bye-laws issued by the State Government under the Constitution of India or any law made by Parliament or the Legislature of the State shall be published in the official Gazette in the Assamese lang­ uage. Safeguard of 4. Notwithstanding anything in Section 3, only languages which the use of a i e jn u s e immediately before (he commencement of this Act the6 Au8ton<> s l l a ^ continue to be used for administrative and other official moui Region purposes upto and including the level of the Autonomous Region and in the or the Autonomous District, as the case may be, until the Regional Autonomous Council or the District Council in respect of the Autonomous District. Region or the Autonomous District, as the case may be, by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting decide in favour of adoption of any other language for any of the administrative or official purposes within that region or district. Safeguard of 5. Notwithstanding anything in Section 3, the Bengali lang- tJ'ie USr ,o f u a £e he used for administrative and other official purposes guauei'ulhe u Pt 0 a n ‘l iaduding the district level in the district of Cachar until district <-.f the Mohkuma Parishads arid Municipal Boards of the district in Cachar a joint meeting by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting decide in favour of adoption of the official language for use in the district for the aforesaid purposes. The use «f 6. Notwithstanding anything in Section 3, any exami- official1 Ian- n a t .i o n . l i e l d . by the Assam . Public Service Commission guage in res-w h>ch immediately before the commencement of this Act used pect of exa- to be conducted in the English language shall continue to be so nduat ion conducted I ill such lime as the use I hereof is permissible under ffie Xam y c la u s e f2 ) o f A r t i c l e 3 4 3 o f l h e Constitution of India : Public Ser­ vice Commis­ sion. Provided that a candidate shall have the right to choose the language in use in the State of Assam, which was the medium of his University examination. » 4 various°iir,t!le ' '̂ u b.ie c t t 0 thR provision of this Act, the State Govern- uistf.Ugroup. t n e n t may by notification issued front time to time, direct the use of the language as may be specified in the notification and in such parts of the State of Assam as may be specified therein : Provided that (a) the rights of the various linguistic groups in respect of medium of instruction in educational institutions as laid down in the Constitution of India shall not be affected ; (b) the State shall not, in granting aid to educational and cultural institutions, discriminate against any such institutions on grounds of language ; (<;) the rights to appointments in the Assam Public Services and to contracts and other avocations shall be main­ tained without discrimination on the ground of lan­ guage ; and (d) in regard to noting in the offices in the region or district if any member of the staff is unable to note in any of the district language, the use of English shall be permitted by the Heads of Departments so long as the use thereof is permissible under Article 343 of the Constitution of India. Powers to ,Q>- bhe Slate Government shall have the power to make make rules, rules for carrying mil (he purposes of this Act. B. BAR DA, Secy, to the Govt, of Assam, Law Deptt.