Delhi, August 8, 2024: The Ministry of Law and Justice, in collaboration with the Supreme Court and High Courts, has intensified efforts to translate judicial proceedings and judgments into regional languages. This initiative aims to make legal processes more accessible to the common citizen, with over 31,000 Supreme Court judgments already translated into 16 vernacular languages.
Article 348(1)(a) of the Constitution of India mandates that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts be conducted in English. However, Article 348(2) allows the Governor of a state, with the President's consent, to authorize the use of Hindi or any other regional language in High Court proceedings. The Official Language Act, 1963, further permits the use of regional languages in High Court judgments, provided they are accompanied by an English translation.
The use of Hindi in High Court proceedings was first authorized in Rajasthan in 1950, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar between 1969 and 1972. However, proposals from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Karnataka to use their respective regional languages in High Court proceedings were declined by the Chief Justice of India in 2012 and 2016.
To make legal judgments more accessible, the Supreme Court, under the guidance of Chief Justice of India, has implemented an AI-Assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee. Led by Justice Abhay S. Oka, the committee has successfully translated 31,184 Supreme Court judgments into 16 languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, and Gujarati, among others. These translations are available on the e-SCR Portal of the Supreme Court's website.
Similar translation efforts are underway in High Courts across the country. Committees in each High Court, chaired by respective judges, are working to translate e-SCR judgments into regional languages. As of now, 4,983 judgments have been translated and made available on the respective High Court websites.
Under the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Bar Council of India has established the ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti,’ chaired by former Chief Justice of India, Justice S.A. Bobde. The committee is focused on developing a Common Core Vocabulary to facilitate legal translations into regional languages. Glossaries in languages such as Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu have been developed and are accessible on the Legislative Department’s website.
The ongoing efforts to translate legal proceedings and judgments into regional languages represent a significant step toward making the Indian judicial system more inclusive and accessible to all citizens. As these initiatives continue to progress, the use of vernacular languages in courts may become more prevalent, bridging the gap between the legal system and the common people.
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