<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-news_title">Breaking the legal language barrier</h1>
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<span>Tuesday, 28 November 2017</span><span></span> | <span><a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/author/prashant-singh-and-shobhit-mathur">Prashant Singh and Shobhit Mathur</a></span> | in <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped" class="gmail-cat_name">Oped</a>
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<img src="http://www.dailypioneer.com/uploads/main/cl_story_image/T330_11725_1.jpg" class="gmail-pic gmail-main-img" alt="Breaking the legal language barrier" title="Breaking the legal language barrier" align="left">
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<span><p>
It is time to accept the long-standing demand of the Department of Official Language on use of regional languages in <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/allahabad-calcutta-high-courts-get-24-additional-judges.html">High Courts</a></p>
<p>
Communication of justice is as important as the determination of
justice. This recognition is imperative to ensure the integrity of our
legal system. It is a shame that in independent India, legal language
has prevented people from accessing justice. The complexity of statutory
language has made the legal system incomprehensible to the common man.
The language barrier limits the understanding of the lay man regarding
his rights, exacerbates lack of awareness and effectively prevents them
from accessing the justice system. To cultivate the confidence of the
common man, the goal of the legal system should to eliminate language
difficulties making the process of entering courts less burdensome and
daunting for non-English speakers.</p>
<p>
The idea of providing judgments in the language of the litigant has
been advocated for a long time now by several High Courts. As per the
current constitutional scheme, English is the official language for
higher courts in India. However, serious concerns are being raised these
days for providing adequate language services in courtrooms for the
common litigant. The idea of prescribing the use of regional language in
High Courts has been pursued by several state governments and now, even
the President has made a strong case for it.</p>
<p>
Speaking at a <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/sports/kerala-play-out-goalless-draw.html">Kerala </a>High
Court function last month, President Ram Nath Kovind advocated for a
system where translated local and regional language copies of High Court
judgments are made available to litigants. The President argued that
providing certified translations would benefit litigants who are not
conversant in English, and otherwise would not be able to appreciate the
linguistic nuance of courts that statutes necessitate.</p>
<p>
President Kovind's statement echoes a long-standing demand of the
Department of Official Language with regard to the use of regional
languages in High Courts. In February, the Parliamentary Panel on Law
and Justice, in its report presented to the Rajya Sabha, made a strong
recommendation for the use of regional languages in the High Courts. The
Panel's recommendation generated some controversy, as it challenged a
six-decade old convention being followed by the Centre that involves the
Chief Justice of India's assent on this matter.Determining the language
of the courts, Article 348(1) lays down that until Parliament otherwise
provides, proceedings in the Supreme Court and in a High Court are to
be in the English language. As an exception to the above-mentioned
general rule, however, Article 348(2) provides that the Governor of a
State, with the previous consent of the President, may authorize the use
of Hindi, or any other official language of the State, in proceedings
in the High Court, but not with respect to the judgments, decrees and
orders passed by it, which shall be in the English language as required
by Article 348(1).Despite the absence of the requirement of the
judiciary's assent in this, the Centre has repeatedly forwarded such
requests to the Chief Justice, who has been declining them. Two years
ago, there were a series of violent incidents in the Madras High Court
premises, where protestors barged into court halls, demanding that Tamil
be made the official language of the Court.</p>
<p>
At the heart of this debate lies the fundamental importance of adequate
language services in providing access to justice, a notion interlinked
with linguistic human rights claims.Amartya Sen, in his book, The Idea
of Justice, argued: “What moves us, reasonably enough, to devise so many
means of delivering justice is not the realization that the world falls
short of being completely just — which few of us expect — but that
there are clearly remediable injustices around us which we want to
eliminate”.</p>
<p>
The issue of language is one which can be clearly characterized as a
remediable injustice. Fair administration of justice and due process
constitutes the central plinth of our constitutional structure. In the
spirit of celebrating the remarkable linguistic diversity of India, the
judicial branch must repose confidence in the functional utility of
regional languages by authorizing their use in High Court. The language
apparatuses at International Courts have shown that it's possible to
incorporate translation services into the courts effectively. The costs
are definitely worth it. Taxpayers should not be compelled to seek
private translating services which enhance the cost of access to
justice.</p>
<p>
The consequence of continuing with the status quo has been the relative
marginalization of the other official languages. The current language
policy for higher courts has also stunted the development of a legal
vocabulary which otherwise could increase legal literacy. Presently,
High Courts in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, have
already been using Hindi as an optional language. However, for
orders/judgments/ decrees passed, even these High Courts are not allowed
to use Hindi. A permanent change in this regard can only be brought
about by a parliamentary legislation. In India, all the scheduled
languages enjoy equality of status and hence, any kind of
heavy-handedness should be discouraged while deliberating upon language
policy.</p>
<p>
Lack of language access can deprive a person with the essence of
justice. In a multilingual country, intolerance by the judicial system
towards regional languages should not be allowed to remain a norm. It is
about time the Parliament reforms the language policy in our courts.
The integrity of the judicial system is at stake.</p>
<p>
<em>(Prashant Singh is a law student at Jindal Global Law School; Shobhit Mathur is co-founder and executive</em><em>director at Vision India Foundation, a Delhi based policy research organization.)</em></p></span><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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