Constitution 343 — Official language of the Union

The Constitution of India, 1950

Statutory text

(1) The official language of the
Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union
shall be the international form of Indian numerals.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years
from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall
continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was
being used immediately before such commencement:
Provided that the President may, during the said period, by order1
authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language and
of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international form of
Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in this article, Parliament may by law
provide for the use, after the said period of fifteen years, of—
(a) the English language; or
(b) the Devanagari form of numerals,
for such purposes as may be specified in the law.

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