Kerala High Court single-judge modifies order against submission of Malayalam documents after KHCAA intervention

The issue of whether Malayalam, Kerala's official language and mother tongue of people of the State, can be used in the documents submitted before the Kerala High Court seems to have simmered down as the High Court, on Thursday, modified its previous direction to the registry to not accept any such documents unless English translations are also provided..After the Kerala High Court Advocates Association (KHCAA) intervened, single-judge Amit Rawal modified his earlier order to the extent that in cases where documents in the vernacular have to be attached, a separate prayer must be added to the writ petition requesting the court to dispense with the requirement of translated versions. "The practice of attaching the documents in vernacular in Kerala by making a note by a lawyer, in my view, should not have been followed, instead one more prayer in the end of the writ petition should have to be added by mentioning like "dispense with filing of the translation of vernacular documents," the order stated.The judge, however, stood by his earlier observation deriding the practice of attaching a note that translations of documents will be provided if the court calls for it.Pertinently, Justice Rawal made it clear that it would be the prerogative of the judge concerned to grant the prayer to dispense with requirement of translations."In case such prayers are made in all the writ petitions including the Bail Applications, OPs, MACA, etc., it would be the prerogative of the Hon'ble judge to grant the dispensation in placing on record the translation of the document," the order stated..On July 13, Justice Rawal had ordered the High Court registry not to accept petitions which contain documents in any vernacular language, unless the same is accompanied by an English translation."The language of the High Court as per the Constitution of India is English and as well as in the High Court Rules," the judgment said.The single-judge took strong objection when he noticed that a petition before the court contained documents in the vernacular with a note from the counsel saying 'English translation will be provided as and when required by the court'Justice Rawal, who was transferred from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Kerala High Court in 2019, said that during the two years he has spent as a judge of the Kerala High Court, lawyers rarely file English translations of documents."This Court has been sitting on the writ side almost two and a half years but the practice of filing the translation of documents has not been followed and in almost 90% of the cases, documents are filed in local/vernacular language," the single-judge said..Interestingly, three weeks later, on August 2, a corresponding bench of the court, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan ordered the registry to accept the counter-affidavit in a case without insisting on any English translation."If any counter affidavit is filed, registry will accept the same without insisting translation," Justice Kunhikrishnan's order.After these conflicting orders were issued, on Thursday, advocate Rajesh Vijayan, president of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association and advocate K Anand, Secretary of the Bar Association, approached the bench of Justice Rawal seeking a modification of his previous order.They submitted that, in first and second appeals, documents in the vernacular that are to attached are very voluminous.The Court clarified that its intention was only with regard to documents annexed with writ petitions and not any Regular First or Second Appeal where the documents of the trial court are also in the vernacular. .[Read Order]