Prayagraj: Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday batted for the hearing of cases in various courts of the country using Hindi and other regional languages. Speaking at the closing ceremony of an event marking 150 years of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, Rijiju observed that provisions should be there to facilitate hearings in Hindi, as it helped in easier accessibility for the layman.
"I cannot ridicule those who cannot speak Hindi. But those who can should use it. I say this because when those who are from rural areas or have limited efficiency in English appear for court hearings, they often cannot comprehend the exchange between the judge and the advocate. I feel this is not right," he added.
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The minister further added that he personally wished for regional languages to be used more and more in various High Courts. Notably, this comes a day after Rijiju informed the Lok Sabha that a full court of the Supreme Court had declined proposals made by governments of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Karnataka to permit the use of respective local languages in the High Court proceedings.
In another remark, the Law Minister noted that he had seen a media report which said the Supreme Court had 'issued a warning'. " The 'maalik' (owner) is the citizen, and the Constitution is our guide. The country runs in accordance with the Constitution as well as what the citizens want. No one can issue a warning, as all of us are here to serve the country," he said.
This comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court bench of Justices S.K Kaul and A.S Oka orally observing on Friday that the SC Collegium's recommendation to appoint five judges in the court, issued back in December, 2022, had not yet been cleared by the Centre. "Don't make us take a stand which will be very uncomfortable", the bench had conveyed to the Attorney General.
