Maharashtra / Use Marathi in office, those violating order won't get increment: Maha govt

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has directed all its departments, local authorities, officers and employees to mandatorily use Marathi language in official business.

In a circular issued on Monday, the state government also asked all the department heads to take actions such as warning, mentioning it in the confidential reports, issuing strictures and withholding annual increment as a punishment against the staff found deliberately not using Marathi language in official business.

The circular was issued by the Marathi language department.

“Many departments are still issuing circular, government resolutions etc in English language. Websites of many departments are also only in English language. Similarly, many municipal corporations are issuing notices, letters, applications and samples only in English. Complaints in this regard have been raised by the public representatives time and again,” states the circular.

Instructions to all the department heads on using Marathi in all the official business have been issued in the past. They are again directed to strictly implement the instructions and take necessary action against those who are found not following the instructions.

In the budget session of the state assembly in February, the government had passed a law making Marathi language a mandatory subject in schools.

Marathi Language Minister Subhash Desai and Education Minister Varshan Gaikwad reviewed the progress in this regard in a meeting in May. They said that Marathi language will become a compulsory subject from the academic year 2020-21 for classes 1 to 6 in schools of different mediums and education boards in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra has studied laws enacted by southern states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala that made their languages mandatory in schools.