Recently, the Supreme Court emphasized that witnesses produced before a tribunal in Uttar Pradesh should use Hindi for communication and depositions, even if they come from different states. This directive was given in the case of Pramod Sinha v. Suresh Singh Chauhan and Others. A plea seeking the transfer of a motor accident case from MACT Farukkabad, Uttar Pradesh, to MACT Darjeeling, West Bengal, was dismissed by Justice Dipankar Datta, who served as the single-judge.
The petitioner, who owned the vehicle involved in the accident, argued that the language barrier could be a hindrance in MACT Farukkabad since all the witnesses were from Siliguri, West Bengal. However, the court rejected this contention, stating that while India is linguistically diverse with at least 22 official languages, witnesses should communicate in Hindi before MACT Fatehgarh, U.P., as it is the national language.
The court also turned down the petitioner’s claim that MACT Darjeeling should handle the claim petition because the accident occurred in Siliguri. The court cited Sub-section (2) of Section 166, which permits claimants to choose the MACT within the local jurisdiction of their residence or business or where the defendant resides. Since the claimants chose MACT Farrukhabad at Fatehgarh, U.P., as per the law, their choice was upheld, and the petitioner’s argument was overruled.
Interestingly, it’s worth noting that Justice Datta himself hails from West Bengal.
Name:- Ritesh Palaur, University name:- SAMBALPUR UNIVERSITY, Semester:- 2nd
