Supreme Court Declines Plea To Adopt Hindi As Its Official Language
Supreme Court observes that making Hindi the official language of the Supreme Court would require legislative action.
Supreme Court highlighted its ongoing efforts to gradually introduce Hindi and other regional languages in its functioning.
The Supreme Court on September 25 declined a plea seeking the adoption of Hindi as the official language of the Supreme Court, observing that such a change involves constitutional and legislative considerations.
During the hearing today, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant indicated that the Court was already taking gradual steps to make its functioning more accessible through Indian and regional languages.
"We are slowly introducing things..have you gone through the updated website..we are slowly introducing regional languages also..these things do not happen overnight..they happen slowly..", CJI Kant told the petitioner.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi added to the CJI's observation and said, "This should be a legislative input, these sorts of decisions taken by courts are said to be undemocratic reliefs".
As the petitioner continued to make his submissions on a constitutional amendment being sought, the CJI told him, "How can I do that..if you want to argue because of live streaming then that is a different issue..otherwise we have indicated enough..".
The Bench also pointed to the Court’s ongoing initiatives, including the introduction of regional-language resources and public-facing services.
Notably, the constitutional framework currently provides under Article 348 that proceedings of the Supreme Court and High Courts shall be in English unless Parliament provides otherwise. It also permits, with prescribed approvals, the use of Hindi or other State languages in High Court proceedings.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court announced a Hindi public information service providing simplified Hindi summaries of important judgments as well as daily audio and video bulletins.
On September 14, on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, the Supreme Court announced the launch of a new Public Information Service in Hindi. The service will provide a simple Hindi summary of selected important decisions and orders along with Hindi audio and video bulletins of about 15 to 30 minutes per day. A link to the relevant official decision will also be available.
The initiative is being launched for the convenience of the common citizens, litigants and especially the differently-abled people so that they can easily understand important court judgments, their impact and the process in their familiar language. The aim is to make the sense of access to justice more accessible and to link the respect for Indian languages with judicial public information. Simple language and audio and video mediums will also be useful for those who have difficulty reading or understanding lengthy legal documents.
The service will first be launched in Hindi and will soon be made available in other Indian languages in a phased manner. With this, citizens of different linguistic regions of the country will be able to get concise and intuitive information about important decisions of the Supreme Court in their own language.
Case Title: BRAHMESHWAR NATH MISHRA Vs UNION OF INDIA
Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Mohana
Hearing Date: September 25, 2026