NEW DELHI: Stressing weight in the demand to use plain English in the legal dealings instead of couching them in the legalese, the Supreme Court on Thursday sent a notice to the Centre for its response on a petition filed by lawyer Dr Subhash Vijayran.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian agreed to hear all sides on the petition seeking directions to facilitate the access to justice by the common man if plain language is used.
The petition also seeks a page limit on the pleadings and a time limit on oral arguments by the lawyers.
Dr Vijayran has also urged the court to direct the Department of Justice to issue guides or handbooks in plain English and in vernacular langauges which are easily understandable by laymen. The petitioner has also sought direction to use lain language in drafting and issuing all government rules, regulations, notifications, communications etc., which are of interest to the general public.
He wants a beginning made by the government by drafting the news legislations in plain language instead of the legalese used that can be interpreted differently by different people.