Parliamentary committee suggests use of regional languages in high courts

Parliamentary committee has said that the use of Hindi and other regional languages in high courts can be permitted and there is no need to consult judiciary.

The committee has said that the Constitution confers enough power to the Centre to implement this order.  

At present proceedings are held in English in High courts and in the Supreme Court. The Centre had received proposals from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujrat, Karnataka and other states for the use of local languages. Even the High Courts of Karnataka, Kolkata, Gujrat and Chhattisgarh had received same proposals.

The Article 348 of Constitution of India allows the use of local languages in the court trials and proceedings. However, the said article stated that the order copy of the court should be in English language only.

As per the instructions of Official Languages Act 1963 u/s 7, the Governor can permit the courts to issue orders in local language. However, as per the Act, the court should prepare a copy of its order in English also. Besides, before permitting the courts to conduct the trial in local languages, the Governor must obtain permission from the President.

The Article 348 of Constitution of India allows the use of local languages in the court trials and proceedings. However, the said article stated that the order copy of the court should be in English language only.

However in 2012, the full bench of Supreme Court had rejected these proposals. The legal experts say that the recommendation for use of local languages in High Courts is not quite easy because it is difficult to find exact translations for legal terminologies and phrases in the regional languages.

Moreover, translation of orders to regional language is also a big problem and the Chief Justices are often deputed from neighbouring states. Trials in regional language is not possible before such CJs.
 

• high court
• supreme court
• language
• english
• hindi