Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday suggested the National Law University to change the medium of instruction to Hindi, so that the best students from Uttar Pradesh could become the best lawyers.
Speaking during the inauguration of the newest National Law University in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Dr Rajendra Prasad National Law University, the CJI said the NLU must understand the new demands of the legal profession.
Calling law students as torchbearers of the future, he said that internships and moot courts were conventionally designed to favour students who belonged to elite and English-speaking background.
He said the data taken from surveys of five National Law Universities revealed that the composition of law schools in terms of region, gender and the premium attached to the fluency of English language and a stigma for a lack of knowledge of English language amongst students was acting as a hinderance to the full participation and assimilation of students coming from diverse backgrounds.
Stressing on the need to break the language barrier that hampered education being granted to law aspirants, the CJI said that despite the developments in legal education, the contemporary Indian legal education system only favoured certain English speaking, urban students.
He added that college campuses must provide a place dynamic in nature for different beliefs to interact.
As per the CJI, technology gave the students the ability to reach beyond the physical space and it must be used to reach out to the students in Uttar Pradesh as well as in other states of the country.
He said though the establishment of NLUs has helped in raising the standards of legal education, special subjects like space law and technology law should not remain limited to the curriculum of National Law Universities. He urged that the quality of legal education imparted in all colleges must be at par with each other.
Noting that the aim of the education system was to understand, support and preserve human values, the CJI said that a prosperous society can be built with the help of a better education system.
Talking about the Digital Supreme Court Reports, he said it was a digital version of the official law report of the Supreme Court Reports, which made the Apex Court verdicts accessible to each and every person of the country. He added that now nobody needed to pay thousands of rupees to private publishers.
He revealed that about 36000 judgments of the Supreme Court from 1950 to 2024 have been translated into regional languages.
Stating that lawyers played a crucial and multifaceted role in society, the CJI said they represented individuals and entities ensuring that their rights were protected.
He said the role of lawyers included representation of the marginalized and vulnerable communities, ensuring that they have a voice in the system.
Praising the lawyers for their pro bono work, the CJI said thanks to the Bar, those who could not afford to reach the courts, also had a voice in the system.
He urged the legal fraternity to ensure equal participation of students coming from diverse backgrounds in the Universities.
He said every individual must have an equal chance to thrive and succeed free from marginalisation because of region, gender or language barriers.
Noting the fact that Uttar Pradesh will now have two National Law Universities, the CJI said that both the varsities must strive to better the standards of legal education.