The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
(3) In this Article “University” includes any institution of
higher education.
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[22. (1) Sinhala and Tamil shall be the languages of
administration throughout Sri Lanka and Sinhala shall be the
language of administration and be used for the maintenance
of public records and the transaction of all business by public
institutions of all the Provinces of Sri Lanka other than the
Northern and Eastern Provinces where Tamil shall be so used:
Provided that the President may, having regard to the
proportion which the Sinhala or Tamil linguistic minority
population in any unit comprising a division of an Assistant
Government Agent, bears to the total population of that area,
direct that both Sinhala and Tamil or a language other than the
language used as the language of administration in the province
in which such area may be situated, be used as the language of
administration for such area.
(2) In any area where Sinhala is used as the language
of administration a person other than an official acting in his
official capacity, shall be entitled:
(a)
to receive
from and to
communicate and transact business with, any
official in his official capacity, in either Tamil or
English;
(b) If the law recognizes his right to inspect or to obtain
register,
copies of or extracts from any
record, publication or other document, to obtain a
copy of, or an extract from such register, record,
publication or other document, or a translation
thereof, as the case may be, in either Tamil or
English.
(c)
where a document is executed by any official
for the purpose of being issued to him, to obtain
such document or a translation thereof, in either
Tamil or English;
(3) In any area where Tamil is used as the language of
administration, a person other than an official acting in his
official capacity, shall be entitled to exercise the rights and to
obtain the services, referred to in sub paragraphs (a), (b) and (c)
of paragraph (2) of this Article, in Sinhala or English.
8-
22
by
to
Constitution
3.
Languages of
Administration
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