## CONSTITUTION 344

### CONSTITUTION 344 — Commission and Committee of Parliament on official language
- https://unisonlegal.in/statutes/constitution/344

> 344. Commission and Committee of Parliament on official
language.-(1) The President shall, at the expiration of five years from the
commencement of this Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years
from such commencement, by order constitute a Commission which shall consist
of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages
specified in the Eighth Schedule as the President may appoint, and the order shall
define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to
the President as to-
(a) the progressive use of the Hindi language for the official
purposes of the Union;
(b) restrictions on the use of the English language for all or any of
the official purposes of the Union;
(c) the language to be used for all or any of the purposes
mentioned in article 348;

1. See C.O. 41.
203
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(d) the form of numerals to be used for any one or more specified
purposes of the Union;
(e) any other matter referred to the Commission by the President as
regards the official language of the Union and the language for
communication between the Union and a State or between one State and
another and their use.
(3) In making their recommendations under clause (2), the Commission
shall have due regard to the industrial, cultural and scientific advancement of
India, and the just claims and the interests of persons belonging to the nonHindi speaking areas in regard to the public services.
(4) There shall be constituted a Committee consisting of thirty members,
of whom twenty shall be members of the House of the People and ten shall be
members of the Council of States to be elected respectively by the members of
the House of the People and the members of the Council of States in accordance
with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable
vote.
(5) It shall be the duty of the Committee to examine the
recommendations of the Commission constituted under clause (1) and to report
to the President their opinion thereon.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in article 343, the President may, after
consideration of the report referred to in clause (5), issue directions in accordance
with the whole or any part of that report.
CHAPTER II.-REGIONAL LANGUAGES