One can argue that judicial communication is an area needing urgent reforms, both in terms of timely delivery of justice as well as delivery in common person’s language. PM Modi echoes the mood when he says, “A large population finds it difficult to understand the judicial process and rulings of the court. There is a need to simplify this and make it accessible. We just encourage the use of local languages in courts. This will ensure that the common man has faith in the judiciary and can feel part of the system.” He expressed these at the inauguration of the 11th Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, highlighting yet another need of the hour to make judiciary more inclusive and explicit.
Various regions have demanded from time to time to allow the use of local language in the proceedings before the high courts as provided under Article 348 of the Constitution. The matter has long been a matter of debate too. Certain barriers have prevented local language from being adopted for the proceedings before the high courts. Some of the prominent ones, as highlighted by CJI Ramana, include the fact that sometimes some of the judges are not familiar with the local language & that the Chief Justice are always from outside. However, the government is trying to find solutions to many of such outstanding issues through technology. “I am sure with the innovation in science and technology, the advancement such as Artificial Intelligence, some of the issues associated with the introduction of languages in the high courts may be solved in the near future,” says CJI Ramana.
While lower courts function in local languages and English, the High Courts and Supreme Court use English in their proceedings. The move of adoption of local languages in court would help the common man relate to the judiciary like never before. The Prime Minister also parallelly underlined yet another pressing issue i.e. the need of endorsing medical and technical education in mother-tongue that can help the country have more and more engineers and doctors. “I am glad the Chief Justice of India mentioned having High Courts using local languages. It will take a long time for that, but it will improve access to justice. Why can’t medical and technical education be done in the mother tongue? Some states are already doing it,” PM Modi said while also conveying to and assuring people that the government is even working towards simplifying laws passed in Parliament for the common man to understand them. “Along with the actual legislation, if a simplified version is also passed in Parliament for the common man to understand, then he will not have to go to the court for interpretation of the law. The government is studying this issue,” he said.
The government seems to have been looking towards solution that can improve the judicial system and upgrade the judicial infrastructures. Efforts are being seen to fill up vacancies in courts. Further, use of technology in the judicial system is now an essential part of the Digital India mission. AI, machine learning, natural language processing, digital sharing and record-keeping, etc. are some of the solutions that are already being explored and examined. “To explore the use of AI in judicial domain, the Supreme Court of India has constituted Artificial Intelligence Committee which has mainly identified application of AI technology in Translation of judicial documents; Legal research assistance and Process automation,” Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated recently in Parliament conveying about implementation of phase two of the eCourts projects of the government. Another stepping stone towards this new-age judicial ecosystem was set with the launch of the AI-driven research portal SUPACE (Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency) last year. The portal deals with large chunks of case data through machine-learning
“How do we make our judicial system so capable that it can fulfill the aspirations of India of 2047, … these questions should be our priority today,” said PM Modi invoking a vision for the future of the judiciary and urging the Judges and Chief Ministers to set the vision for the nation in 2047, when India would celebrate 100 years of independence. As the New India begins to dawn and shape up, it is bringing a wave of change in every domain that helps run the country, including the Indian Judiciary. The judiciary system is being made more relevant, tech-ready, transparent and accessible for all. From working on deciding upon as to what all court-related proceedings and matters can be made public to implementation of e-courts project in mission mode, efforts are seen to make Indian Judiciary trusting and impactful for New India.
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