Give translated copies of verdicts to litigants: Kovind

The President also advocated for speedy disposal of cases as “the poorest and most underprivileged” in the society were the sufferers of delayed justice. “Delay in delivery of justice is a pressing concern in our country. Often those who suffer are among the poorest and most underprivileged in our society. We must find mechanisms to ensure quick disposal of cases,” he said while addressing the valedictory function of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the High Court of Kerala here. 

“We could all consider an approach that makes adjournments the exception in an emergency situation rather than a tactic to prolong court proceedings,” the President said at the function also attended by several judges including Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. 

Kovind added, “HCs deliver judgments in English, but we are a country of diverse languages. The litigant may not be conversant with English and the finer points of the judgment may escape him or her. The litigating parties will thus be dependent on the lawyer or another person to translate the judgment. This can add to time and cost,” he said. He suggested that a system could be evolved whereby certified translated copies of judgments were made available by the high courts in local or regional languages. “This could happen in a period of say 24 or 36 hours after the judgement is pronounced. The language could be Malayalam in the Honourable Kerala High Court or Hindi in the Honourable Patna High Court, as the case may be,” Kovind said. 

“It is for the judiciary and the legal fraternity to discuss this and decide as appropriate,” he said, adding, the judiciary and justice delivery mechanism of the country would need to continue to keep up with technology and with society, as they have been doing so capably.”