Communicate in Marathi or face penalty: Maharashtra government tells employees

The Maharashtra government has directed its officials and employees across departments to use Marathi language for all official communication and correspondence going forward. Moreover, unlike previous circulars, it has warned of penalty in case of non-compliance.

A Government Resolution (GR) to this effect was issued earlier this week. As per the GR, all 7.5 lakh plus state employees and officials need to use Marathi for the purpose of communication.

Further, all departments will have a Marathi Vigilance Officer to ensure the directive is being implemented. “Each office will have a Vigilance Officer, who will keep a check on whether Marathi is being used or not,” the GR said.

“If anybody is found not following the order, then the official concerned may face actions like denial of promotion or no salary hike for one year,” it added.

Marathi is the official language of the state under the Maharashtra Official Languages Act, 1964 & Amendment Act, 2015. However, many officials – including IAS & IPS – rely on English and Hindi languages for communication.

The state government has claimed that the infrequent use of Marathi has created a language barrier between officials and the common man, leaving it with no option but to enforce the use of Marathi at all levels.

It has therefore mandated that all government schemes and its details be written and communicated in Marathi henceforth. It has even directed officials to use Marathi for all verbal communication in the office and in cabinet meetings.

The government’s reports, advertisements, receipts, names of office bearers etc will also have to be written in Marathi.

Some senior officials, however, have expressed concerns over the move as official correspondence with other states and centre is typically in English to make communication easier. Switching over to Marathi may lead to delays and possible translation issues.