Lok Sabha Question No. 209 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-02
Subject: Promotion of Hindi in Higher Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Gajendra Singh Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 209

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 2 nd  FEBRUARY, 2024 Promotion of Hindi in Higher Courts

## †209. SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH PATEL:

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

- (a) the various efforts being made by the Government to promote the use of Hindi language in the High Courts and Supreme Court of India;
- (b) whether there is any new scheme proposed for the promotion of official language Hindi in the Supreme Court in future;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  issued  any  guidelines  to  promote  the  use  of  official language Hindi in issuing Judicial judgements;
- (e) if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the new set of guidelines issued by the Government to promote Official language Hindi in the courts?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a)  to  (f):  As  far  as  Supreme  Court  and  High  Courts  are  concerned,  Article  348(1)(a)  of  the Constitution  of  India  states  that  all  proceedings  in  these  Courts  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  Cabinet  Committee's  decision  dated  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.

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.

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