Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud announced on Thursday that nearly 37,000 Supreme Court judgments have been translated into Hindi since Independence, and work is underway to translate them into other regional languages.
Tamil is currently leading the way after Hindi, he noted during a hearing alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The Chief Justice emphasized that the Supreme Court is working on translating its judgments into all regional languages recognized by the Constitution’s eighth schedule, which includes 22 languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, and Dogri.
Justice Chandrachud also encouraged lawyers to reference “neutral citations” from the Electronic Supreme Court Reports (e-SCR), which was launched in 2023. The e-SCR initiative provides free access to Supreme Court judgments for lawyers, students, and the public.
The CJI highlighted the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the translation process but stressed the importance of human review due to AI’s limitations. He pointed out that AI mistakenly translates the legal term “leave granted” as “avkash prapt hua” (leave obtained), which doesn’t align with its legal meaning—permission from the court to pursue a specific remedy.
He added that the translated judgments are available on the Supreme Court’s website, its mobile app, and the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) portal under the e-SCR project, ensuring broader access to the court’s decisions.
