No statutory compulsion on oath in Nepali: Jha

KATHMANDU, Sept 2 - Vice President Paramananda Jha has defended the use of Hindi in his oath of office, saying the Interim Constitution has not made it mandatory to take the oath only in Dev Nagari Nepali. "There is no compulsion under Article 36.I (2) and Appendix 1(A) of the ...

The vice president, whose mother tongue is Maithili, submitted his statement to the apex court Monday in response to a show-cause notice issued in August over his use of Hindi. The oath-taking in Hindi had prompted controversy and street protests across the country for a week last month. The controversy has now landed in the Supreme Court.

Jha had translated and read out the oath in Hindi though the president had administered it to him in Nepali. "Reading out a translated text of the oath does not make any difference and should not be considered unconstitutional," Jha argued in his seven-page long statement. "Even a person who does not know Nepali has the right to be vice president.

In the statement, Jha asked the apex court to stay away from the controversy as it is political in nature. "The oath cannot be an issue for judicial review," he told the court.

Besides, Jha also requested the Supreme Court to quash the writ petition because the court simply cannot question the acts of the president. "It is the president who administered the oath to me and the court has not issued any show cause notice to him. So, the court cannot issue an order to the vice president either," he further argued.

Jha also clarified in his statement that he did not mean to offend other languages by using Hindi for his oath. He further argued that he used Hindi as it is a lingua franca. He claimed that Hindi is not a foreign language. "The Indian Constitution has recognized the Nepali language as well. Is Nepali a foreign language to a Nepali living in India?" he questioned.