New Delhi, Dec. 26: Your Honour will not become Huzoor anytime soon.

English will continue to be the sole official language in the Supreme Court and high courts, with the Law Commission saying it would not be “feasible” to introduce Hindi as an alternative.

The commission has shot down a suggestion by Parliament’s official language panel that Article 348 of the Constitution be amended to allow the higher courts to pass judgments and decrees in Hindi.

English is now the sole language of communication in the Supreme Court and the 21 high courts, although witnesses who don’t know the language are often allowed to testify in their mother tongues.

Vernacular languages are, however, widely used in the lower courts — such as Hindi across the northern belt, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and Bengali in Bengal. The official language in the lower courts before Independence was Urdu.

The House panel had said that amending Article 348 would help quasi-judicial bodies like tribunals and consumer forums to deliver judgments in Hindi. It would also allow the law ministry’s legislative department to draft laws in Hindi.

“At present, these departments are unable to pass orders in Hindi, because appeals against their orders in high courts/Supreme Court would have to be conducted in English,” the panel said.

The law commission rejected the suggestion, saying: “No language should be thrust on any section of the people against their will since it is likely to become counter-productive.”

It also cited practical difficulties, mentioning that high court judges can be transferred anywhere in the country.

“If any judge is compelled to deliver judgments in a language (in) which he is not well versed, it might become extremely difficult for him to work judicially,” the commission said. “On transfer… a high court judge is not expected to learn a new language at his age.”

Compulsory use of English also facilitates the movement of lawyers from high courts to the apex court, the commission said.

It added that every citizen and every court had the right to understand the law as laid down by the apex court and, at present, English alone met the criterion. “Any survey of the society in general or its cross-sections will clearly substantiate the above proposition which does not admit of much debate, particularly in the present political, social and economic scenario,” it said.

The commission, which received the panel’s suggestion in March 2006, had written to retired chief justices, Supreme Court judges and senior advocates seeking their opinion. It recently sent its reply to Union law minister H.R. Bhardwaj.