SC’s translation projects raced ahead in 2023 as retd. HC judges, law clerks help AI

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Last Updated04/01/2024

The Supreme Court of India successfully accelerated its translation initiative in 2023.
It completed the translation of over 31,000 judgments into various Scheduled Languages through the e-SCR portal.

The translation process gained momentum under the current CJI, employing retired High Court judges and law clerks to correct AI-based software translations.
The initiative faced challenges in translating legal terminology, particularly in languages like Tamil, where a standardised glossary is lacking.

Legal experts question the practical utility of translated judgements when High Courts are not conducting proceedings in regional languages, except in Hindi-speaking states.
The absence of standardized legal glossaries in regional languages raises concerns about accuracy and coherence.

The Bar Council of India is working on creating a "Common Core Vocabulary" to standardize legal terminology in all Indian regional languages.
Critics argue that allowing regional languages in court proceedings is essential for developing a comprehensive glossary that aligns with the understanding of the common man.

Initiative to provide the digital version of the apex court's judgements in the manner as they are reported in the official law report.
It provides free access to about 34,000 judgements of the SC to lawyers, law students, and the common public.
These verdicts will be available on the apex court website, its mobile app, and on the judgement portal of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).
The Supreme Court has developed a search engine with the help of the National Informatics Centre comprising elastic search techniques in the database of e-SCR.
The search facility in e-SCR provides for free text search, search within search, case type and case year search, judge search, year and volume search and bench strength search options.