Amid strong opposition to Hindi imposition in the state, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, B Balamurugan (IRS-C&CE:2003), presently posted in Chennai has written a letter to the Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) against employing officers who do not know Hindi to the Hindi cell in the GST Commissionerate. In his letter he requested that only those who know Hindi and are willing to work to propagate it, be posted in the Hindi cell.
Balamurugan assumed office as the Assistant Commissioner of the Hindi Cell in the GST Commissionerate in November 2019. “The work of the Hindi cell is to propagate Hindi as the central official language and to monitor its use. I am not interested in that work,” he wrote.
“It is a rule that the notes on the files and letters written in the Hindi Cell must be in Hindi and that the language must be used at least 50% of the time. Neither do I, the assistant commissioner, nor my subordinate, knows to read or write Hindi, we sign it without even knowing what is written,” he added.
The timing of his letter is important as, it comes at a time when there is a general strongly prevalent sentiment against the imposition of the language in the state.
