Tamil as court language would need Constitutional Amendment: CJI

Making Tamil one of the court languages is a long-pending demand with several political parties in Tamil Nadu favouring the move

Responding to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s demand to allow Tamil as the court language in the Madras High Court along with English, Chief Justice of India Justice D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said a Constitutional Amendment was necessary to fulfill the demand and spoke about the steps being taken to bridge the language barrier in judiciary.

In his speech after the inauguration of court buildings in Madurai, the CJI spoke in detail on the steps being taken in ensuring access to the apex court for lawyers and law students outside Delhi, overcoming the language barrier, and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to translate judgements into various Indian languages.

"Perhaps a Constitutional Amendment would be necessitated having due regards to the provision of Article 348 to the Constitution," Justice Chandrachud said, referring to Stalin’s demand to allow Tamil along with English as court language in the Madras High Court. Article 348 deals with language to be used in the Supreme Court and in the High Courts and for acts and bills.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who was also present on the dais, was in favour of his demand, the CM added. Making Tamil one of the court languages is a long-pending demand with several political parties in Tamil Nadu voicing their opinion in its favour.

Stalin also demanded establishment of Supreme Court benches at least in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata, ensuring social justice in the appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court as well as proportionate reclamation to states in the apex court bench.

The CJI said the SC was striving to ensure access to it for lawyers and law students who do not reside in Delhi by introducing a hybrid system which allows a lawyer from anywhere in the country to appear before the apex court. Live streaming of proceedings of Constitutional Benches provides an opportunity for law students across the country to educate themselves on how law is “evolved and developed” by the Supreme Court.

“I am confident that access to court proceedings would substantially bridge the barrier,” Justice Chandrachud said and added that he was cognizant of the language barrier and its impact on opportunities for young graduates.

Maintaining that English is not the first language and that people formulate their thoughts in their mother tongues, the CJI implored all young lawyers who have some difficulty in communicating in English not to be demotivated.

“I request the judges of the MHC to be encouraging towards the young juniors and not let youngsters get demotivated,” he said. The CJI also spoke about the initiatives taken by the Supreme Court to translate its judgements into Indian languages using an AI-based software developed by IIT-Madras.

He said since human verification was needed, the SC has asked all high Courts to constitute a team of retired district judges to do the work of verifying the translations. Of the 4,428 judgements translated so far, over 4,000 are in Hindi, 52 in Tamil, 28 in Telugu, and 17 in Kannada.