UAE introduces Hindi as third official language

In a landmark decision, Abu Dhabi has included Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, as part of a move designed to improve access to justice.

While praising the decision of the UAE court, External Affairs Minister of India, Sushma Swaraj in a tweet said, “We thank Abu Dhabi for declaring Hindi as one of the official languages in their judicial system. This will make the justice delivery system simpler and more accessible to our people.”

Indians, reportedly form the largest immigrant community in the UAE, with more than three million living in Dubai. The landmark decision undertaken by the judicial department will benefit a major chunk of workers, who mostly come from Hindi speaking regions of central and north India, Gulf News reported.

On a positive note, the Indian workforce in UAE can now file their complaints to the labour counts in the country in their own mother-tongue. The complaints can be over issues related to delayed wages, end of service entitlements, bonuses, compensations for arbitrary layoffs, notice periods and annual leaves, as well as claims for air tickets and the return of their passports.

While filling the complaint, the Indians emigrants will have to fill the name of the complainant and details regarding his job and salary in Hindi. The complainant is also required to upload the supporting documents. Hindi language forms can now be downloaded and additional details over the litigation procedures are available on the ADJD website.

Addressing on the court’s decision, Undersecretary of the ADJD, Yousuf Saeed Al Abri, said that the move was undertaken so that the judicial system of the country could play a major role in attracting foreign investments and enhancing Abu Dhabi to become an attractive business destination, especially for a skilled workforce.

“The adoption of multilingual interactive forms for claim sheets, grievances, and requests, aims to promote judicial services in line with the Plan Tomorrow 2021, and increase the transparency of litigation procedures through the provision of bilingual forms which allow foreigners to know the litigation procedures, their rights, and duties without a language barrier,” Al Abri added.