Laudatory Thought: Prime Minister Modi On CJI Chandrachud's Initiative To Make SC Judgments Available In Regional Languages

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud's announcement of the initiative to make the judgments of the Supreme Court available in regional languages, "laudatory".

"The next step of our mission is to provide translated copies of the judgments of the Supreme Court in every Indian language", the CJI Chandrachud had said on Saturday while delivering the Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai.

"At a recent function, the Hon’ble CJI Justice DY Chandrachud spoke of the need to work towards making SC judgments available in regional languages. He also suggested the use of technology for it. This is a laudatory thought, which will help many people, particularly youngsters" Prime Minister tweeted on Sunday.

PM Modi also tweeted while sharing a video clip of the Chief Justice's speech that "India has several languages, which add to our cultural vibrancy. The Central Government is undertaking numerous efforts to encourage Indian languages including giving the option of studying subjects like engineering and medicine in one’s Matru Bhasha." 

Chief Justice Chandrachud indicated in his speech that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used for translating judgements in regional languages.

"It is good that I can reach out to all of you young lawyers, some of who would not be able to afford the cost of private reporters. But what good does it do to a rural litigant who does not understand the tenor or language or the niceties of English? Unless we reach out to our citizens in a language which they can understand, in a manner in which they can comprehend, the work which we do is not reaching out to 99% of our population", Justice Chandrachud had said.

Chief Justice also said that there will always be a certain degree of criticism when we adopt technology. "There is a technological divide where people who do not have access to technology will be left out. But my mission for the use of technology is that technology must reach out to those who do not have access and not create further barriers to access through technology", he said, adding that the idea is to make information available to lawyers for free.

He urged young lawyers to use the eSCR website of the Supreme Court.