Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed it was at his bidding that the Supreme Court made parts of its judgments available in regional languages.
Modi made the claim while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in Mumbai on Friday. "I told the Supreme Court, at least give the operative part of a judgment in the language of the litigant. Why are you people toting the flag of the English language?" Modi said. "Today, if a Marathi litigant wants the operative part of a judgment from the Supreme Court in his language, its availability has been ensured," he added.
The initial announcement about the translation of the SC judgments into regional languages was made by Chief Justice of India, Justice D Y Chandrachud in January 2023.
CJI Chandrachud had said it was necessary as English in its 'legal avatar' was not comprehensible to most of the citizens. "We are in the process… there's a software which has been developed. We are now creating a team whereby they will use machine learning for the translation of Supreme Court judgments in various Indian languages,” CJI Chandrachud had said.
Prime Minister Modi himself tweeted a part of CJI's speech calling it a 'laudatory thought'. Modi lauded the apex court once again during his Independence Day speech. CJI Chandrachud, who was among the guests, acknowledged the praise with folded hands. However, on either occasion, the PM did not imply that the idea was given by him or his government.
