The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) Today (March 19) requested CJI Sanjiv Khanna to set up an official pool of translators in the Supreme Court. This initiative aims to ensure accurate translations, reduce legal costs, and speed up case filings for smoother judicial proceedings.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) today sent a formal request to Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Chief Justice of India, seeking the establishment of a Pool of Translators within the Supreme Court premises.
This request highlights the difficulties faced by Advocates-on-Record (AORs) in obtaining accurate and reliable translations of annexures and supporting documents, which are essential for submitting cases before the Hon’ble Court.
The letter explains that translating documents from different Indian languages into English—which is mandatory for Supreme Court proceedings—is a major challenge for lawyers. As a result, they are often forced to hire external translators, leading to higher expenses and errors in translations, which affect the quality and credibility of submissions before the Court.
The issue of poor translations has been raised by multiple Supreme Court Benches, including a Bench comprising Hon’ble Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Arvind Kumar.
The request proposes re-establishing an official translation service inside the Supreme Court premises to solve these problems. According to SCAORA, this would provide multiple benefits:
- Recognized Source – Having certified translators will ensure accurate, reliable, and legally appropriate translations for AORs.
- Fixed Pricing – A standardized fee structure will be set up to ensure affordable services and prevent overcharging.
- Convenience – Lawyers will have faster and more efficient translation services, helping to speed up filings and reduce procedural delays.
- Consistency and Quality Assurance – The translated documents will be legally valid, uniform, and admissible before the Supreme Court.
SCAORA strongly believes that setting up a translation facility inside the Supreme Court is fully in line with the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, particularly Order VIII Rules 2-4. This step would greatly enhance the efficiency of legal proceedings, benefiting both the Bar and the Bench.
In addition, SCAORA has also requested that Advocates-on-Record be allowed to upload translated documents directly on the Supreme Court’s e-filing portal using a password-secured ID. This will ensure that the translations are consistent with the Court’s maintained standards and reduce errors.
To further streamline the legal process, SCAORA has asked the Supreme Court to issue directions to all High Courts to set up official translation facilities at the High Court level.
The request states:
“We request that directions be issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to all High Courts mandating that vernacular documents, particularly in criminal matters such as FIRs, charge sheets, and trial court orders, be made available in English before final arguments take place at the High Court level.”
SCAORA suggests that each state government should be directed to appoint official translators for every district court. These government-appointed translators will be responsible for translating all legal documents and pleadings at the very first stage of litigation.
The translated versions can then be used as certified copies, which would reduce the need for additional translations at the Supreme Court stage.
The association believes that this initiative will not only make the litigation process smoother but also significantly reduce legal costs, making justice more accessible to all.
The letter concludes with a humble request for the Chief Justice of India to approve and implement this proposal. SCAORA assures its full cooperation in any necessary steps for making this plan a reality.
“We respectfully urge Your Lordship to consider this proposal and take the necessary steps for its implementation.”
BACKGROUND
The Supreme Court was not happy on Tuesday (March 18) when it saw that some papers in a case about a teacher’s job had mistakes in translation.
The judges, Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Aravind Kumar, found that the word “reinstatement” was wrongly translated as “re-establishment”.
Because of this mistake, one paragraph did not make sense.
So, the court said that the original document must be given along with an official correct translation.
The court also asked Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) President Vipin Nair to find out how lawyers who handle court documents (Advocates-on-Record or AoRs) should deal with such mistakes.
These lawyers are supposed to check and confirm that the documents are correctly translated.
The court said that-
“SCAORA has to inform the Court about forming a pool of translators along with an institutional change to have all vernacular documents translated before the final hearing commences in any given case.”
This means that SCAORA must make a team of translators and bring a system where all documents in different languages are translated properly before the court starts hearing the case.
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