ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has approached the Supreme Court seeking a slight change in the apex court’s Sept 8 judgment ordering the federal and provincial governments to immediately start using Urdu in official work.

Moved by Additional Advocate General (AAG) Razzaq A. Mirza on behalf of the Punjab chief secretary and provincial law secretary the review petition has requested the court to revise its judgment only to the extent where the governments have been ordered to translate all available laws from English into Urdu within three months.

Also read: Supreme Court orders govt to adopt Urdu as official language

The Supreme Court verdict had ordained the statutory, regulatory and oversight bodies to take steps without delay to implement the Article 251 of the constitution requiring the use of the national language.

The deadline of three months, suggested by the Supreme Court judgment, ends on Dec 8.

“The provincial government is already engaged in implementing the constitutional mandate gradually, but the three-month deadline seems very unrealistic to complete the gigantic task before it,” AAG Mirza told Dawn.

The petition says the provincial government has already created three posts of translators and has framed necessary rules besides forwarding a requisition to the Punjab Public Service Commission for appropriate appointments on these posts under the rules.

The provincial government has also completed translation of around 150 laws and these laws have been uploaded on the official website, the review petition said, adding that the expression of interest had also been published in daily newspapers for outsourcing the translation of laws of Punjab.

The petition said it was humanly and practically impossible to adhere to the time span of three months as had been suggested in the judgment for translation of all laws from English into Urdu, considering the vast reservoirs of laws on different subjects.

It is on account of this problem that the provincial government is constrained to file the petition, the review plea said, adding that the court should consider extending the three-month deadline to a reasonable period.

In its Sept 8 judgment, the Supreme Court had asked the governments to consider and ensure within three months implementation of the Urdu language in all competitive examinations at the federal level. Besides, judgments in cases relating to public interest litigation and judgments enunciating a principle of law in terms of Article 189 must be translated into Urdu and should be published in line with Article 251 of the constitution.

Similarly in all court cases government departments should make reasonable efforts to submit their replies in Urdu to enable all people to understand them and get their rights effectively enforced by the government.

If subsequent to this judgment any public body or official continue to violate the constitutional command contained in Article 251, citizens suffering any tangible loss directly, or as a result of such violation, shall be entitled to enforce any civil rights which might accrue to them on this account, the judgment had stated.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2015

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