Lok Sabha Question No. 479 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-09
Subject: Legal Education in Hindi and other Regional Languages
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Debasree Chaudhuri

## Government of India Ministry of Law & Justice

## Department of Legal Affairs

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## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTIONNO. 479 ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 09 TH DECEMBER, 2022

## Legal Education in Hindi and other Regional Languages

## 479 # MS.DEBASREE CHAUDHURI:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  any  plan  has  been  prepared  by  the  Government  to  impart,  legal education to students in Hindi and all other Indian regional languages;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any action plan has been prepared by Government to carry out the legal proceedings  of the Supreme  Court/High  Courts  and  other  judicial authorities in Hindi and other regional languages; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) to (d): The Department of Higher Education has informed that the National  Education  Policy,  2020  in  its  para  20.4  stated  that  'Legal education needs to be competitive globally, adopting best practices and embracing new technologies for wider access to and timely  delivery of Justice.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  informed  and  illuminated  with Constitutional  values  of  Justice  -Social,  Economic,  and  Political  and directed  towards  National  reconstruction  through  instrumentation  of democracy, rule of law, and human rights. The curricula for legal studies must  reflect  socio-cultural  contexts  along  with,  in  an  evidence-based manner, the history of legal thinking, principles of justice, the practice of jurisprudence,  and  other  related  content  appropriately  and  adequately.

State institutions offering law education must consider offering bilingual education for future lawyers and judges in English and in the language of the State in which the Institution is situated'.

This Ministry is emphasizing to promote and enhance use of Hindi and other regional languages in Legal Education and to carry out the legal proceedings of the Supreme Court/High Courts and other judicial.We are digitizing 65000 words Legal glossary and make them available to public and creating an online platform to crowd-sourcing of the coining of legal terminology  for  Indian  Languages.  Further,  This  Ministry  is  in  the process  to  Identify  frequently  used  words  in  the  legal  documents  and creating  a  transitive  vocabulary/common  core  vocabulary  by  coining words from common roots which would be adaptable by all the Indian languages  so  that  the  translation  of  legal  documents  from  one  Indian language  to  another  Indian  language  would  be  easier.  This  Ministry  is also  planning  to  convene  a  meeting  of  Vice  Chancellors  of  Law Universities,  representatives  of  Bar  and  Judiciary  to  prepare  Ten  Year Perspective action Plan for Promotion of Indian Languages in Courts and Legal  Education.Further,  a  committee  under  chairmanship  of  Hon'ble (Retd.) Chief Justice of India Sh. Bobde has been constituted by the BCI to recommend measures to enhance the use of Hindi and other Regional languages in Legal Education.

The Ministry of Home affairs has informed that enabling Constitutional and Legal provisions in this regard are already in place. As per Article 348 of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Official Language Act, 1963 there  are  provisions  of  optional  use  of  Hindi  and  other  (Languages included in the 8 th Schedule of the Indian Constitution) in the proceedings and judgments etc. of the courts. Under the aforementioned provisions, optional  use  of  Hindi  in  the  proceedings  of  high  Courts  of  Rajasthan, Uttar  Pradesh,  Madhya  Pradesh  and  Bihar  was  authorized  in  the  year 1950, 1969, 1971 and 1972 respectively.