Even Supreme Court judges from Gujarat, TN did not back demand for use of local languages in High Courts: Justice Jasti Chelameswar

Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar on Saturday revealed that he was the only Supreme Court judge to have supported the demand for permitting use of local languages in High Courts in 2012 when the top court disapproved the proposal. .Speaking at the South First's Dakshin Dialogues 2023, Justice Chelameswar said even the judges from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu had not backed the demand during the full court meeting held after the Government of India had sought the apex court’s opinion in this regard.Justice Chelameswar recalled that after the legislative assemblies of the two States had passed resolutions demanding that their respective local languages be permitted to be used as court languages in the High Courts, the Cabinet Committee had sought Supreme Court’s advice on the administrative side.The former judge said that a day before the full court meeting, he had written a letter to the then Chief Justice of India stating that there was no reason to not back the demand as the Government of India had already permitted two states including Uttar Pradesh to use Hindi as language of the High Courts.“The next morning, the full court assembled and my dear friends, once again, of course, the Supreme Court was consistent. It said since we earlier recommended to not use to it, we still reject it,” Justice Chelameswar said, while referring to the top court’s earlier recommendations against use of local languages in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. .“I was the only one … I was not concerned with any of those two states in that sense,” he added.Justice Chelameswar hails fromAndhra Pradesh.The former judge recalled that when the Uttar Pradesh Legislature in the 1950s had passed a similar resolution saying that the Government of India should take appropriate steps to notify Hindi to be language which could be used in the High Court, the Central government had sought the opinion of the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court at that point of time said it is not a very desirable thing. I am not going to the correctness or otherwise of that understanding. I am only telling you the facts. The Supreme Court said 'No',” Justice Chelameswar added.However, the former judge said notwithstanding such opinion of the Supreme Court, the Central government went ahead and notified Hindi to be permissible language in which the judicial work could be conducted in the Allahabad High Court. This was later followed in Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, he added.Justice Chelameswar said when a similar request for advice came later in the 1960s, the Chief Justice of India had written to the Central government that there was no point in seeking its opinion since earlier recommendation on the issue of regional languages was not accepted. .Delving into the reasons why the Hindi-speaking states have been permitted to use their local languages in the High Courts, Justice Chelameswar said numbers in the parliament or other lawmaking bodies play a major role in how the system works in India. “I gave that other example because that day governments knew that Hindi speaking people constitute a majority in the parliament, therefore rejecting their demand would be troublesome in the next election,” he said.Speaking on the amendments in the Constitution, Justice Chelameswar said, “the minute we start looking at these things as something is God-given, then we will end up in trouble.”He added there are aspects which perhaps require a second look from time to time in any Constitution as what was good hundred years back may or may not be good today. However, he added,“It requires an intense and intelligent debate. It is not the question of shouting and numbers which (should) decide these things.”