Supreme Court verdict on Urdu signage reaffirms India’s multilingual democracy
The Supreme Court on April 15 upheld the continued use of Urdu on a municipal signboard in Patur Municipal Council in Maharashtra’s Akola district.
The legal question before it Mrs Varshatai vs State of Maharashtra was narrow. But by ruling that the use of Urdu on the signboard was permissible, the court affirmed that multilingualism is not a disruption to governance but a reflection of how governance already works in many parts of India. It treats the presence of Urdu not as an exception to the official language regime, but as a continuation of it in a multilingual setting.
The Supreme Court’s decision in also draws attention to how language appears and disappears in public life, and how institutions either reflect or resist the multilingual realities of India.
The petitioner had argued that the Maharashtra Local Authorities (Official Languages) Act, 2022, required the exclusive use of Marathi. The court clarified that while the Act mandates the use of Marathi, it does not prohibit additional languages.
Urdu had been used on signage in Patur since 1956, reflecting longstanding administrative practice and the linguistic composition of the town.
Constitutional grounding, legal reasoning
The court based its reasoning on the Constitution’s language provisions. Article 345 permits states to adopt one or more languages for official purposes. Articles...
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