Chandigarh, Apr 10 (UNI) The Punjab Government has decided to enact a new legislation for the introduction of Punjabi language as a compulsory subject upto the 10th standard in all the schools of the state.

Simultaniously the Punjab Languages Act (PLA) would also be amended to make Punjabi an official language at the administrative level including in the subordinate courts in Punjab.

This was decided in a meeting of Punjab Advisory Committee held here today under the Chairpersonship of Minister for Education and Languages Upinderjit Kaur.

At the meeting she emphasised that the amendment in the PLA would ensure the use of Punjabi as an official language in all the offices of the State Government/Boards/Corporations/ Courts, Schools, Colleges and Universities also.

The Minister added that the amended PLA would empower the Punjab Languages Department to undertake inspection of all offices/institutions and recommend legally punitive actions against the erring employees/officers to the state government. The deterrent punishment for not using the Punjabi language would be severe for repeated offences, she said.

Dr Upinderjit Kaur further added that in pursuance to a unanimous resolution adopted by the Vidhan Sabha recently, a conscious policy decision has been taken by the Government to ensure that Punjabi language must be made a compulsory subject from the academic session 2008-09.

In this regard a new act, 'The Punjab Learning of Punjabi and other Languages Act' has been drafted to ensure proper and compulsory learning and teaching of Punjabi language in all the schools from standard I to X whether these are run by a society, trust or a board.

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