Amid govt-judiciary face off, PM lauds CJI’s comment on rulings in regional languages

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s comment on Saturday on making Supreme Court judgments available in regional languages. The CJI had said this at an event organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa 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,” Modi tweeted.

PM’s views

“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 (mother tongue),” said the PM, who last year at least twice had stressed on the use of local languages in courts.

Also read: CJI Chandrachud: Judges must interpret Constitution with changing times while preserving its essence

In events in May and October last year, he had said that new laws should be written in regional languages and in a manner so that even the poor can easily understand them. In May, the then Chief Justice NV Ramana, who was present at the occasion, had pointed out that “This is a serious issue… There are lots of hurdles, bottlenecks, hiccups in the implementation of regional languages in High Courts.”

Govt-judiciary face-off

The central government and the judiciary have recently been in a tussle over the issue of judicial appointments, in which the government is seeking a bigger role. The Prime Minister’s tweets came on a day when Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had cited retired Delhi High Court judge RS Sodhi’s comments accusing the Supreme Court of “hijacking” the constitution.

Also read: Collegium row: Rijiju shares retd HC judge’s interview to underline ‘sane’ view​

Sharing the clip of the Justice Sodhi’s interview on his Twitter handle, Rijiju wrote, “Actually, majority of the people have similar sane views. It’s only those people who disregard the provisions of the Constitution and mandate of the people think that they are above the Constitution of India.”