The Kerala Official Languages Act, 1969

1. (1) This Act may be called the Kerala Official Languages Act, 1969. (2) It shall come into force at once.

Without prejudice to the provisions of articles 346 and 347 of the Constitution, Malayalam and English shall be the languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the State.

The Government may, by notification issued from time to time, direct that Malayalam or English shall be used in respect of such official purposes as may be specified in the notification.

Every notification issued under section 1 B shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is issued, before the Legislative Assembly, while it is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session, or in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, the Legislative Assembly makes any modification in the notification or decides that the notification should not be issued, the notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that notification.

The language to be used in - (1) Bills to be introduced or amendment thereto to be moved in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala; (2) Acts passed by the Legislature of the State of Kerala; (3) Ordinances promulgated by the Governor under article 213 of the Constitution; and (4) Orders, rules, regulations and bye-laws issued by the Government under the Constitution or under any law made by Parliament or the Legislature of the State of Kerala; shall be Malayalam or English.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the following special provisions shall apply in respect of linguistic minorities in the State, namely:- (a) The Tamil and Kannada minority people in the State may use their respective languages for their correspondence with the State Government in the Secretariat and the Heads of Departments and also with all the local offices of the State Government situate in those areas which are declared by the Government to be linguistic minority areas for the purpose and replies sent in such cases shall also be in their respective minority languages. (b) The linguistic minorities other than Tamil and Kannada in the State may use the English language for their correspondence with the State Government offices and in such cases the replies sent to them shall be in the English language.