Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has suggested the Law Department to draft any law or resolution in the State legislature in Kannada and later translate it into English.
The chief minister was speaking at a function to felicitate judges who pronounced judgements in Kannada in the City on Sunday. “Presently, the practice is to draft bills or resolutions in English and later translate the final legislation or resolution into Kannada.
But, several difficult Kannada words are introduced in this process, making it difficult to understand our own mother tongue. Therefore, it is advisable to draft the legislations in Kannada and later translate them into English,” he said.
The chief minister said there are many words in English which do not have Kannada equivalents and it is advisable to retain such words in English, rather than use difficult Kannada words.
“We cannot expect the judgements of High Court and Supreme Court to appear in Kannada. However, there are many courts which conduct hearings and deliver judgements in Kannada. This helps the clients understand them better,” Siddaramaiah said.
High Court judge Justice N Kumar, who spoke on the occasion, said since High Court judgments are referred to in other countries, they are usually pronounced in English.
“The Constitution says that High Court judgements must be in English.
Most of the hearing in some cases happen in Kannada. However, the judgements are delivered in English.
In case there is a requirement that the judgement has to be delivered in Kannada, the governor will have to get the consent from the President of India. Besides Hindi, the President has not given his consent for any other language,” the judge said.
