HC judge honoured for first verdict in Telugu

HYDERABAD: A widely prevalent belief that a high court judgment in Telugu is impossible has been smashed by Justice P Naveen Rao. On the pretext that legal vocabulary is not available in Telugu and the existing software too does not support such efforts, Justice Naveen Rao proved that this belief is wrong and judgments in Telugu can be prepared and pronounced, according to several speakers at a meeting here on Sunday.
The meeting was organised by Viswanatha Sahithya Peetham to thank and felicitate Justice P Naveen Rao for delivering the judgment in Telugu, the first by the high court.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudarshan Reddy reminded the audience that the Hyderabad high court had delivered judgments in Urdu for 75 years and there was no reason why the same should not be done in Telugu.“We will see brilliant advocates if they are given an option to argue in Telugu in our courts,” Professor G Haragopal said.
Mangari Rajender, who pronounced a judgement in Telugu in 2006 as a district judge, said that as long as “we make available an English version of the judgment, there is no need to amend laws. We have to provide required infrastructure and Telugu judgments can be rolled out for the common people.”
Mandali Budha Prasad, former chairman of AP Official Language commission, narrated the efforts he made in 2012 to introduce Telugu at the high court.
Thanking Sahithya Peetham president V Kondal Rao and other speakers, Justice Rao, in his speech, said that there were many proficient Telugu experts in the judiciary and they could pronounce better judgments, if society welcomes them this way.