A writ has been filed with the High Court to adopt the English language as the second official language of the country.
Advocate M Moksadul Islam filed the petition in the related section with the permission of the High Court bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil on Wednesday (Apr 17).
The writ petition seeks to move the High Court to issue a ruling upon the respondents to show cause as to why they should not be directed to take all necessary steps and declare English as the second official language of Bangladesh after Bangla.
The cabinet secretary, law secretary, and secretary for the parliament secretariat were asked to be respondents of this writ by the petitioner.
The petition cited that English is the official language, or one of the official languages, of 60 sovereign states. It is a co-official language of the UN, the European Union, and many other international and regional organizations.
The petition said English is the de facto second official language of Bangladesh. All the organs of the state such as the legislative, judiciary, and executive use English almost every day. Now it requires official sanction.
The petition also mentioned that Digital Bangladesh demands English be given its proper status as the second official language of our country, after Bangla.