Now Jharkhand Assembly to pass bills only in Hindi

The Jharkhand Assembly has decided that from now onwards the drafts of bills to be introduced and passed in the House will be prepared only in Hindi.

The draft of the Bill will be sent to the Jharkhand Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan for approval only in Hindi. 

In the last two years, several bills passed by the State Assembly were returned by the Governor on the grounds that their Hindi and English drafts either contained errors or lacked uniformity.

The Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato says that if the Raj Bhavan or the state government feels the need then they can get the bills passed in Hindi translated to English. 

Bills being returned from the Raj Bhavan only because of an error in translation from Hindi to English cost the State Assembly a lot of time in the process of getting them re-passed.

In 2021, the Jharkhand government had passed the Anti-Mob Lynching Act bill in the House wherein a provision was made for life imprisonment to the culprits of mob lynching. This bill was returned by the Governor because of the differences between the Hindi and English versions of the bill. 

Even after two-and-a-half years, this bill could not be passed again. It is now all set to be reintroduced in the Monsoon session of the State Assembly starting on July 28.

Similarly, the Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University Bill was returned by the Governor due to difference in Hindi and English drafts, following which the Jharkhand government had to pass it again.

 Apart from this, the Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2022, and the Settlement of Dues of Jharkhand Taxation Acts Bill were also returned for the same reason.

Earlier this month, the Raj Bhavan, while returning the bill related to the establishment of a private university, questioned the difference in its Hindi and English drafts.