Official languages of Puducherry

French was the official language of Puducherry under the Treaty of Cession 1956. The Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965 does not mention French and states the Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu are the official languages subject to area.

Status

French was the official language of the Établissements français dans l'Inde (French India) and remained so with the Treaty of Cession of 1956 which states that "the French language shall remain the official language of the Establishments so long as the elected representatives of the people shall not decide otherwise".[1] Likewise, the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 states that "Provided that so long as the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Pondicherry does not decide otherwise, the French language shall continue to be used as an official language of that Union territory for the same official purposes for which it was being used in that territory immediately before the commencement of this Act''.[2]

Currently, the status of languages in the Union Territory of Puducherry is regulated by The Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965 (Act No. 3 of 1965) which makes no mention of French and establishes that "the Tamil language shall [...] be the language to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the Union Territory. It states that Provided that the Administrator may by like Notification, direct that in the case of Mahe area, the Malayalam language, and in the case of Yanam area, the Telugu language may be used for such official purposes and subject to such conditions as may be specified in such notification". Finally, it states that "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 3, and from the commencement of this Act, the English language may be used for all or any of the official purposes of the Union Territory".[3]

During the early twentieth century, Tamil has got equal status along with the existing French language. After the merger with India, Telugu and Malayalam also obtained the same status although with some restrictions. Though the status of each languages varies with respect to each district, when communicating in between districts of different languages, generally English is used for convenience.[4][5] The three official languages are:[6]

  1. Tamil: Language used by the union territory government, especially used when communicating within and between the Tamil majority districts of (Pondicherry and Karaikal) along with issuing official decrees.
  2. Telugu: Used when communicating within Telugu district Yanam.
  3. Malayalam: Used when communicating within Malayalam district Mahé.

References

  1. ↑ Article 28: Le français restera langue officielle des Établissements aussi longtemps que les représentants élus de la population n'auront pas pris des dispositions différentes.
  2. ↑ http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/GovernmentUnionterritoriesAct1963.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.lawsofindia.org/pdf/puducherry/1965/1965Pondicherry3.pdf
  4. ↑ http://sabt.org.in/npmb-india/downloads/travel-info.pdf
  5. ↑ "History (Pondicherry)". District Courts of Pondicherry. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "English to continue as link language in Puducherry: Court". The Times of India. 14 September 2014. Retrieved June 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

External links

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