Mumbai Mar 24 PTI The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and the Council on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that aims to make use of Marathi language mandatory in official works of local authorities including civic bodies and corporations formed by the state government State minister Subhash Desai said the introduction of the bill was necessitated as the Maharashtra Official Language Act 1964 did not make it mandatory for the local authorities to use Marathi in their official works He also cited examples of the authorities taking advantage of the lack of the provision in the Act It is our effort to do away with that mistake Desai said Any local authority be it established by the state government or the central government or state-run corporations will have to use Marathi while interacting with people and in internal works too he said The minister also said the use of English or Hindi by local authorities for certain government works like communicating with foreign ambassadors has been allowed Speaking in the Legislative Council Desai said We are this time not leaving any loopholes for anyone to find an excuse to not use Marathi language in public and commercial places The state government is also coming up with a dictionary of simple Marathi words that can be used in day-to-day work Earlier BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar while speaking on the bill in the Assembly wondered why the love for Marathi surfaces when elections are around He was apparently referring to local body polls including that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC which are due Sagar backed the bill and said all the files must be in Marathi only Countering him Desai said the issue should not be linked to politics Should we not discharge our duties just because the elections are around the corner It is our right to bring the bill Elections will come and go he added PTI ENM ND GK GK

Mumbai Mar 24 PTI The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Council on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that aims to establish special courts to ensure speedy trial of cases of crime against women and children under the Shakti Act State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil tabled the bill titled The Maharashtra Exclusive Special Courts for certain offences against women and children under Shakti Law 2020 in both Houses of the legislature The bill has been introduced with an aim to conduct trials without delay in cases of certain offences against women and childrenAs per the bill exclusive special courts can be set up for hearing the cases or existing courts can be given that rank depending upon the situation Patil said in the Assembly While tabling the bill in the Council he said The Maharashtra government has already cleared the Shakti bill but it is pending before the Union Home Ministry and yet to reach the office of the President Meanwhile we need to make provisions and infrastructure available once the Shakti Act is promulgated The bill among other provisions provides for appointing special public prosecutor for conducting trials and forming special police teams to probe the offences It was first tabled in the House on December 14 2020 and sent to the joint select committee of the state legislature for discussion The Shakti Criminal Laws Maharashtra Amendment Bill which provides for stricter punishment including death penalty for crimes against women was passed unanimously by both the Houses of the legislature in December last yearPTI ENM NDGK GK