Present\' colonial\' justice system is flawed, says Justice Narasimha

HYDERABAD: Supreme Court judge Justice P.S. Narasimha on Friday said there was a fundamental wrong in the judicial system that has been adopted from the colonial period.

When a divorce petition takes around 25 years to get resolved or when a property dispute between family members requires 15 years to reach a conclusion, how could one say that the system is working, he asked.

Justice Narasimha, a native of Hyderabad who did his graduation in Nizam College, said that lawyers have to play a key role through the process of interpretation as courts give declarations that are closer to the people.

Justice Narasimha was here on a visit to the Telangana High Court, his first since becoming a judge in the Supreme Court on August 31, 2021.

Delivering a lecture on ‘Widening Horizons –Emerging challenges for Bar and Bench’, organised by Telangana High Court Advocates Association, Justice Narasimha said that there was a need to decolonise.

He said that even law should be taught in regional languages like Telugu and judgments must be translated into the local language. He emphasised that by only adhering to the English language, the client is not able to understand his status in a case pertaining to him and its progress.

Justice Narasimha urged the Advocate General and the Vice Chancellor of Nalsar University to make an effort to take some law classes in Telugu. He made it clear that he was not calling for Telugu medium in law. He also suggested that Telugu must be used in district court as litigations are mostly from rural areas.

Suggesting that administration of justice must go nearer to the people, he wanted to know why a person from Adilabad should come to the High Court in Hyderabad when their grievances were against abuse of powers by the state administration.

High Court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, judges and advocates of the High Court participated.