'Software to translate SC judgments in 9 languages'

An advanced software, assisted by artificial intelligence, has been developed to translate Supreme Court judgements in nine vernacular languages and there are plans to expand it, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

"Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (SUVAS), a machine learning tool trained by Artificial Intelligence to be used for translating Supreme Court Judgments into vernacular languages, was introduced on November 26, 2019," Prasad told the Upper House during Question Hour.

He said the software is for translating Supreme Court judgments into nine vernacular languages -- Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

It "will be further expanded", he said.

Currently cases related to Labour, Rent Act, Land Acquisition and Requisition, Service, Compensation, Criminal, Family Law, Ordinary Civil, Personal Law, Religious and Charitable Endowments, Simple money and Mortgage, Eviction under the Public Premises (Eviction) Act, Land Laws and Agriculture Tenancies and Consumer Protection are being translated, he said.

He said the judgements are also being uploaded on the SC website and the high courts need to follow it.

In reply to another supplementary asking whether PILs will also be translated, Prasad said the Justice Department will talk to the Supreme Court in this regard but at the same time, he asserted, such petitions are misused also.

To another supplementary, the Minister said so far 16,000 courts have become e-courts.