Lok Sabha Question No. 262 (STARRED), answered on 2024-08-09
Subject: Use of Regional Languages in Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *262 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 9 TH  AUGUST, 2024

## USE OF REGIONAL LANGUAGES IN COURTS

## *262.  SHRI TEJASVI SURYA:

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

- (a) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to promote the use of local languages in court practices, procedures and arguments;
- (b) the number of courts in which regional languages are widely used; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  considering  the  introduction  of  local  language  in High Courts of every jurisdiction and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS;

(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

- (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

***

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (C) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *262 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 09.08.2024.

(a) to (c): Article 348(1)(a) of the Constitution of India states that all proceedings in the Supreme  Court  and  in  every  High  Court,  shall  be  in  English  language.  However, Article 348 (2) of the Constitution of India provides that the Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi Language, or any other language used for any official purposes of the State, in proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that State. Further, Section 7 of the Official Language Act,  1963  states  that  the  Governor  of  a  State  may,  with  the  previous  consent  of  the President, authorize the use of Hindi or the official language of the State, in addition to the  English  Language,  for  the  purposes  of  any  judgment,  decree  or  order  passed  or made  by  the  High  Court  for  that  State  and  where  any  judgment,  decree  or  order  is passed  or  made  in  any  such  language  (other  than  the  English  Language),  it  shall  be accompanied by a translation  of  the  same  in  the  English  Language  issued  under  the authority of the High Court.

The Committee of the Cabinet appointed to consider the different aspects of the official language policy in its meeting held on 21.05.1965 has stipulated that consent of the  Hon'ble  Chief  Justice  of  India  be  obtained  on  any  proposal  relating  to  use  of  a language other than English in the High Court.

The use of Hindi in the proceedings of High Court of Rajasthan was authorized under  Article  348(2)  of  the  Constitution  in  1950.  After  the  Cabinet  Committee's decision dated 21.05.1965 as mentioned above, the use of Hindi was authorized in the High  Courts  of  Uttar  Pradesh  (1969),  Madhya  Pradesh  (1971)  and  Bihar  (1972)  in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

Government  of  India  had  received  proposals  from  the  Government  of  Tamil Nadu,  Gujarat,  Chhattisgarh,  West  Bengal  and  Karnataka  to  permit  use  of  Tamil, Gujarati,  Hindi,  Bengali  and  Kannada in  the  proceedings of  the  Madras  High  Court, Gujarat High Court, Chhattisgarh High Court, Calcutta High Court and Karnataka High Court respectively. The advice of Chief Justice of India was sought on these proposals as per the Cabinet Committee's decision taken in 1965 and the Chief Justice of India vide his D.O. letter dated 16.10.2012 intimated that the Full Court in its meeting held on 11.10.2012, after due deliberations, decided not to accept the proposals.

Based on another request from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Government requested the Chief Justice of India to review the earlier decisions in this regard and convey the consent of the Supreme Court of India in July, 2014. The Chief Justice of India vide his D.O. letter dated 18.01.2016 conveyed that the Full Court, after extensive deliberations, unanimously resolved that the proposals could not be accepted.

In order to make the judicial proceedings and judgments more comprehensive for the  grasp  of  common  citizen,  specific  efforts  have  been  made  for  translation  of proceedings and judgments from English to other regional languages. As informed by the  Supreme  Court  of  India,  Hon'ble  Chief  Justice  of  India  has  constituted  the  AI Assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee, headed by Hon'ble Mr. Justice Abhay S.  Oka,  Judge,  Supreme  Court  of  India,  for  translation  of  e-SCR  Judgments  into vernacular  languages  by  using  AI  Tool.  As  on  02.12.2023,  by  using  AI  translation tools, 31,184 judgments of Supreme Court, have been translated into 16 languages viz. Hindi  (21,908),  Punjabi  (3,574),  Kannada  (1,898),  Tamil  (1,172),  Gujarati  (1,110), Marathi (765), Telugu (334), Malayalam (239), Odia (104), Bengali (39), Nepali (27), Urdu  (06),  Assamese  (05),  Garo  (01),  Khasi  (01),  Konkani  (01).  The  details  of  the judgments  of  Supreme  Court  translated  into  16  languages,  as  on  02.12.2023,  is available on the e-SCR Portal of the Supreme Court website.

A similar Committee has been constituted in all the High Courts, headed by the Judges of the respective High Courts. As of now, the Supreme Court is collaborating with the High Courts in translation of e-SCR Judgments into 16 vernacular languages. As  per  the  information  received  from  the  High  Courts,  4,983  judgments  have  been translated into vernacular language and uploaded by the High Courts on their respective websites.

Under the aegis of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Bar Council of India has constituted  'Bharatiya  Bhasha  Samiti'  chaired  by  former  Chief  Justice  of  India, Hon'ble  Mr.  Justice  S.A.  Bobde.  The  committee  is  developing  a  Common  Core Vocabulary close to all Indian languages for the purpose of translating legal material into regional languages.

A limited Glossary has also been developed so far in few Regional Languages viz., Gujarati, Malayalam,  Marathi,  Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu  and  Urdu.    These Glossaries are available on the website of the Legislative Department on the web link http://legislative.gov.in/glossary-in-regional-language/ for the use of all stakeholders of the legal system.