Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities Solicitor General of India

Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities   
Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. Later, the States Reorganization Commission, 1953 made a recommendation in this regard. Accordingly, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 inserted a new article 350-B in Part XVII of the Constitution. The article contains the following provisions   
      There should be a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. He is to be appointed by the President of India
      It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities provided under the Constitution. He would report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct. The President should place all such reports before each House of Parliament and send to the governments of the states concerned

The Constitution does not specify the qualifications, tenure, salaries and allowances, service conditions and procedure for removal of the Special Officer for linguistic minorities. In pursuance of the provision of Article 350-B, the office of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities was created in 1957. He is designated as the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities.

The Commissioner has his headquarters at Allahabad and there are three regional offices at Belgaum, Chennai and Kolkata which are each headed by an Assistant Commissioner. At the centre, the commissioner falls under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Hence he submits the annual reports or other reports to the President through the Union Minority Affairs Minister.



7. Solicitor General of India   
In addition to the AG, there are other law officers of the GoI- the solicitor general of India and additional solicitors general of India. These law officers are subordinate to the AG and assist him in the fulfilment of his official responsibilities. Unlike the AG, SG does not tender legal advice to the GoI and his functions are confined to appearing in courts on behalf of the GoI. It is not a constitutional post as Article 76 has no mention of the solicitor general or the additional solicitors general.

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