Tamil to be used in courts in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: In an attempt to demystify the court proceedings and the complicated legal language, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to seek the President's sanction under Article 348 (2) of the Indian constitution to conduct the High Court proceedings in Tamil.

Announcing this to the media persons, state chief minister M Karunanidhi said as per Article 348 all the proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts are to be conducted in English. However sub section (2) of Article 348 gives the state governments the power to have the regional language as the court language. He also said that all efforts to facilitate the government's initiative like translating the books and others will be done.

According to the government, those who do not know Tamil will be exempted from conducting the cases in Tamil.

It may be recalled the corruption cases filed against Sasikala a close ally of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa and others got delayed as they demanded translation of the charge sheet that ran into several pages in their mother tongue.

It would be interesting to note the possible equation change in the client-counsel relationship when the rule comes into force. Literate and illiterate litigants would clearly know how the lawyer presents and argues their case in the court. Further the move would also benefit lawyers who are not comfortable with English.

The move would also pose some genuine difficulties if one lawyer argues in Tamil and another in English and both the petitions are to be translated. Further High Court judges who do not know Tamil will be put to difficulty as they have to jot down the points argued in Tamil and English.