PREFACE

            On the basis of recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee constituted under Article 344(4) of the Constitution of India and of the Commission constituted as per clauses (1) & (3) of article 344 of the Constitution of India, for the industrial, cultural, scientific advancement of India and to give due consideration to the just claims and interest of previous belonging to the non Hindi speaking areas in regard to the public service, Central Official Language (Legislative) Commission, 1961 has been constituted.  Henceforth, the Ministry of Law, Government of India was entrusted with the responsibility of completing necessary preparatory measures for translating Central Laws.

          Later, the Central Government agreed to  bear all the expenses of the translation, printing and publication of the Central Acts in regional languages and it paved the way for the constitution of the Official Language (Legislative) Commission in the State.  Accordingly, the Government of Kerala as per G.O.(Ms) No.42/68/Law dated 14/06/1968, constituted the Official Language (Legislative) Commission in the State of Kerala.

         The Central laws in force in the State are being translated and published in Malayalam as authoritative text and thereby give access of the same to the layman and also to accelerate the implementation of the policy of the Central-State Governments of making the regional language as the administrative language. 

        The Malayalam translation of the Central Acts are prepared and placed before the Central Government on the basis of the Priority List issued by the Central Government.  All the expenses related to the publication of the Malayalam version of the Central Acts are being borne by the Central Government.  The Commission with headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram has been working under the Law Department, Secretariat, Government of Kerala.

       The Commission consists of a full-time Chairperson and two full-time Members. The Chairperson is an officer in the cadre of Special Secretary / Senior Additional Secretary to Government, Law Department, Kerala Government  Secretariat and the Members are in the cadre of Additional Secretary to Government, Law Department, Kerala Government Secretariat. The Secretary of the Commission is an officer of the Law Department in the cadre of Joint Secretary to Government, Law Department. For the smooth functioning of the Commission, the officers in the Commission are divided into three categories as mentioned below:

        i. Technical Wing: - This wing is engaged in the translation of Central Acts.

       ii. Sales Wing:- This Wing sells Malayalam version of Central Acts.

      iii. Administrative Wing:- This Wing is engaged in the administration work of the Commission.

FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION

          After scrutinizing the Malayalam version of the Central Acts, it will be sent to the Official Language Wing for placing before the Working Group and after approval, the Sign Manual of the translation is printed and forwarded to the Official Language Wing for obtaining the authentication of His Excellency, the President of India.  The translated versions of the Acts approved by the President of India will be published as Authoritative Text in Part XI of the Gazette of India Extraordinary, which is set apart for Malayalam language, as provided under section 2 of the Authoritative Texts (Central Laws) Act, 1973.  The said Central Acts are published and are made available for sale to the public from the sales wing of the Commission.

The Chairperson, Members and Secretary of the Kerala Official Language (Legislative) commission are as follows: