Lok Sabha Question No. 1014 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-08
Subject: Judgements in Scheduled Languages
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: M. Selvaraj, T. R. Paarivendhar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1014

ANSWERED ON 08/12/2023

## JUDGEMENTS IN SCHEDULED LANGUAGES

## 1014. SHRI M. SELVARAJ AND:

## DR. T.R. PAARIVENDHAR:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  any  proposal  to  ensure  availability  of Supreme  Court,  High  Court  Judgements  in  all  scheduled  languages including Tamil and make them easily understandable to all citizens across the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (c) the time by which the proposal is to be implemented?

## 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 (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.  Clause  (2)  of  the  Article  348  of  the  Constitution  provides  that notwithstanding anything in sub-clause (a) of clause (1), 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.    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.

In  order  to  promote  regional  languages  in  judicial  procedure,  Supreme Court has developed Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (SUVAS) which is a machine assisted translation tool trained by Artificial Intelligence. SUVAS has  been  developed  with  technical  support  from  Ministry  of  Electronics  and Information Technology.

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. 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.

The AI Committee of the Supreme Court is holding meetings on regular basis with the Al Committees of High Courts and issues directions/suggestions for  translation  of  Supreme  Court  and  High  Court  Judgments  into  vernacular languages by using AI tools. In this regard, an SOP prepared by the Supreme Court  and  a  draft  Scheme  prepared  by  the  High  Court  of  Karnataka  has  also been circulated to all the High Courts.

A meeting was called by the AI Committee, Supreme Court with the AI Committees of High Courts, Law Secretaries, Advocate Generals, the

Secretaries  In-charge  of  Translation  Department  in  the  States  and  requested them to take up steps for appointment of Translators in every High Court for translation  of  e-SCR  as  well  the  High  Court  Judgments  into  vernacular/local language  of  that  State.    In  the  process,  many  State  Governments  have sanctioned funds as well as issued notification for appointing the Translators.

The  details  of  the  judgments  of  Supreme  Court  translated  into  16 languages, as on 02.12.2023, is available on e-SCR Portal, i.e. https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf search/index&escr flag=Y. The  list  of  16  languages  and  the  number  of  judgements  translated  into vernacular languages by Supreme Court of India is annexed as Annexure-I.

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.

## ANNEXURE-I

## DETAILS OF THE JUDGMENTS OF SUPREME COURT TRANSLATED IN 16 LANGUAGES (AS ON 02.12.2023)

| S.No.   | Language   |   No. of Judgments |
|---------|------------|--------------------|
| 1.      | Hindi      |              21908 |
| 2.      | Punjabi    |               3574 |
| 3.      | Kannada    |               1898 |
| 4.      | Tamil      |               1172 |
| 5.      | Gujarati   |               1110 |
| 6.      | Marathi    |                765 |
| 7.      | Telugu     |                334 |
| 8.      | Malayalam  |                239 |
| 9.      | Odia       |                104 |
| 10.     | Bengali    |                 39 |
| 11.     | Nepali     |                 27 |
| 12.     | Urdu       |                  6 |
| 13.     | Assamese   |                  5 |
| 14.     | Garo       |                  1 |
| 15.     | Khasi      |                  1 |
| 16.     | Konkani    |                  1 |
|         | TOTAL      |              31184 |