President for judgement copies in regional language

President Ram Nath Kovind has stressed the need for simplification of legal rules and said a system could be designed to provide certified translated copies of the high court’s judgements in the local or regional languages.

Speaking at the special convocation of the Tamil NaduDrAmbedkar Law University here on Saturday, the President said, “Perhaps,a system could be evolved whereby certified translated copies of judgements aremade available by the high courts in the local or regional languages.”

   

He stressed the need to enhance legal literacy, simplifyrules and make it understandable to litigating parties in a language they know.

Kovind said legal education and the law universities playedan important role in nation building. “As our nation, society and economyevolve, so does the legal profession. While litigation in the courtroom remainsat the core of legal practice, a law graduate finds many avenues open to him orher that were simply not available to previous generations,” he said.

Over the years the understanding of law and its applicationshad become larger as well as sophisticated, he said. “The nuances ofprivacy and of individual choice; the deeper interrogation of the concept ofrights and responsibilities; and the search for a happy balance between autonomyfor innovation and regulation for the greater common good in fields such asbiotechnology and communication technology are all examples,” he said.

The President also emphasised on the need to make theprovision of justice speedier and affordable, which in turn placed a greatresponsibility on the lawyer community.

“While an advocate has a responsibility to the client,he or she also has duty to assist the court in delivery of justice,” thePresident said.

“Our legal system has a reputation for being expensiveand prone to delays. There are some who tend to use and abuse the instrument ofadjournments as a tactic to slow proceedings, rather than a response to agenuine emergency,” he said.

“This makes obtaining justice costly for the litigant.It would be a travesty of our republican ethic if a poor person did not get thesame access to the law as a rich person. The legal profession must continue toaddress this collectively,” he remarked.

Kovind congratulated three eminent jurists — JusticeSathasivam, Justice Bobde and Justice Tahilramani — on being conferred LL.D.(HonorisCausa) degrees for their distinguished services to law and justice.”I am told that this is the first time inthe country that a university is conferring LL.D (HonorisCausa) degrees onthree jurists on the same occasion,” Kovind said.

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