NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over mistranslation of documents for filing appeals in legal aid matters and directed high courts across the country to seriously consider the issue and decide it within four weeks.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Koteswar Singh passed the directive while approving the standard operating procedures for translation and transmission of records for filing legal aid appeals.
“It may be noted that the poor quality of translation has, recently, attracted the attention of this Court on a few occasions, indicating that there is a need for some sort of structural change in this regard. The concerned High Court may seriously consider and take a decision within a specified period of time, i.e. not more than four weeks,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court said that these standard operating procedures are the result of in-depth deliberations conducted by “stakeholders” or “key players in the game”. In this case, the same deserves consideration by all the high courts, she added.
“A copy of this order has been directed to be placed before the learned Chief Justice for necessary consideration and appropriate action on their part,” the Supreme Court said.
The apex court said that although the entire implementation of the SOP was left to the wisdom of the high courts, the said timelines should be treated as binding.
“This is for the purpose of simplifying the filing of appeals in cases where the relevant Legal Services Committees are required to take the lead. We hope that this will go a long way in addressing the structural loopholes that have led this court to proceed with the existing proceedings apart from dealing with the doom signal that has emanated from them.”
The court also ordered a status report to be submitted by all relevant institutions, including the National Information Centre, by April 30, 2026.
The Supreme Court said that legal aid is based on the idea that equality before the law should be real and not symbolic.
She said legal aid helps ensure that rights are not limited to those who can afford legal representation, but are available to everyone, including the poor and marginalized.
“It plays a crucial role in making legal protection meaningful. In India, the concept of legal aid is closely linked to the vision expressed in the Preamble of the Constitution, which promises justice, whether social, economic and/or political, along with equality of status and opportunity, and emphasizes the secular character of the state. In this context, social justice requires the state to reduce structural inequality and protect vulnerable groups from exclusion and exploitation.
“Legal aid contributes directly to achieving this goal by enabling disadvantaged individuals to assert their rights and seek remedies against injustice. Political justice, on the other hand, is concerned with ensuring meaningful participation in democratic processes and equal access to institutions of governance.
“Without access to legal advice and representation, many citizens will find it difficult to exercise these rights effectively, whether in matters of voting, representation or challenging arbitrary actions taken by the state,” the council said.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
