AUCKLAND (Avtar Singh Tehna): As the Bar Council of India (BCI) has set up a committee to see if Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) can be conducted in regional languages; it has aroused the hope that regional languages will get their due place in the courts and legal profession.
However, will any decision in this direction benefit the Punjabi language and its supporters? The successive state governments haven’t bothered to ensure that courts give preference to Punjabi language in daily works and Punjabi has been ignored in the whole legal system. Legal experts feel had the Punjab governments worked at this front, the situation could have been different.
The BCI, which regulates legal education in the country, last week set up a seven-member committee to examine if CLAT for admissions to national law universities can also be conducted in regional languages as well.
Currently, CLAT is held in English for admission to 22 of the 23 national law universities. National Law University, Delhi holds a separate admission test. The committee is headed by a former Chief Justice of a High Court and the panel included former and sitting vice-chancellors of national law universities, academics and two members of BCI.
“The Council being the regulator of Legal Education and Legal Profession, prima facie is of the view that no deserving candidate should be deprived from giving the CLAT on account of his/her inability to be proficient in English”, BCI Secretary Srimanto Sen said in a letter to petitioners who had moved the Delhi High Court demanding CLAT to be held in regional languages. The High Court had asked BCI consider the demand.
“As the knowledge or lack of English language does not determine ones intelligence, ability, acumen, dedication, IQ etc., therefore, prima-facie the exam should be conducted in vernacular languages too. In fact the Bar Council of India conducts All India Bar Examination in 11 languages including English,” said BCI. It will also explore the options if the semester exams can be conducted in the regional languages as well.
As the issue is being debated, it is to be seen how seriously the people of Punjab take this issue, which is quite connected to jobs and livelihood also.
According to Punjab novelist Mitter Sen Meet, Punjab government need to take this issue on priority instead of usual habit of putting blame on central government to wash its own hands of the responsibility.
“Using the grants it gets from central government, the Punjab government, by involving Punjab Official Language Commission (POLC), should get all the law books translated in to Punjabi language, as has been done by Tamil Nadu and Kerala government,” he said. “Without doing this basic work, it will be wrong to hope for any good results,” he said.
The government should review the performance of POLC. The officials of Language Department and voluntary organizations should also come forward on this issue, so that children getting education in Punjabi medium schools could get a chance to get the Law education. The representatives of literary organizations should also hold congregations and raise the issue before the government.