In Brief
A former Municipal Council member challenged the display of Urdu text alongside Marathi on her council's signboard, contending it violated Maharashtra's 2022 Official Languages Act. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that: (1) the appellant's application before the Collector was procedurally unmaintainable because only the Chief Officer can file such applications under the amended Section 308; and (2) the 2022 Act mandates Marathi as the official language but does not prohibit additional languages, particularly those in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule like Urdu. The Court emphasized that language is a tool for communication belonging to communities, not religions, and that India's Constitution embraces linguistic diversity. Urdu, born and developed in India, shares linguistic roots with Hindi and is integral to Indian legal discourse. The judgment reaffirmed that no law forbids using Urdu on a municipal signboard for public communication.
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