In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to make Hindi the official language in the territory.
On October 28, a bench comprising Chief Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul observed that it fell within powers of the ex-ecutive to designate official languages.
The petitioner, Jagdev Singh, had sought recognition of Hindi as the official language in Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh under article 343 and 251 of the Constitution.
Before the abrogation of the Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, the official language of Jammu and Kashmir was Urdu. The official records of the territory made by the Legislative Assembly are either in Urdu or in English.
In September 2020, New Delhi had passed the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act allow-ing for the inclusion of Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, in addition to Urdu English, in the list of official languages in J-K.— KMS
