“A bench of Supreme Court consisting of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed a petition challenging the language proficiency requirement by The Public Service Commission of Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Odisha for judicial officer positions. There are many languages in our country and to understand the ground reality of people and their problems judicial officers needs to adapt the local language. They emphasized that, once appointed as Judicial Officers they have to deal with witnesses and evidences that would be presented in the respective local language. So, the requirement for candidates seeking judicial positions to be proficient in the local language is valid.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling affirms the importance of understanding and communicating effectively within the community they serve. This decision underscores the necessity for judicial officers to be able to comprehend legal proceedings, interact with the public, and deliver judgements in the local language, ensuring that justice is accessible and comprehensible to all parties involved. If Judicial Officers adapts local language then it would result in effective communication, access to justice, cultural understanding, constitutional validity, uniform application, training and resources.
Several state’s Public Service Commission had raised a condition regarding judicial officers and petition was filed by:
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In this case the petitioner challenged the proficiency of language by judicial officers appointed for the better judicial proceedings in that respective place. The Court considered their appeal as valid because judicial officers are appointed for working on ground level and solving problems of people who are comfortable with their local language.
In conclusion, the Supreme Court’s order was deemed to understand cultural values of people and to assure effective jurisdiction by the judicial officers through adapting local language.