The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, has recently announced the launch of “neutral citations” for all Supreme Court judgments. This initiative is intended to ensure a consistent pattern of citing decisions by the apex court.
The Supreme Court has taken steps to introduce and implement a uniform, reliable, and secure methodology for identifying and citing its decisions. The neutral citations system will provide a consistent pattern for citing all judgments of the Supreme Court.
The introduction of neutral citations will facilitate the easy identification and retrieval of judgments by judges, lawyers, and researchers. It will also enhance the transparency and accessibility of the legal system by making it easier for the public to access and understand the judgments.
Previously, the citation of Supreme Court judgments was not uniform, leading to inconsistencies and difficulties in identifying and citing decisions. The neutral citation system aims to address this issue and bring uniformity in the citation process.
This move is a significant step towards modernizing the Indian legal system and bringing it in line with global standards. It will also enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the judicial process, ensuring that justice is delivered in a timely and effective manner.
The launch of “neutral citations” by the Supreme Court is a crucial initiative towards promoting uniformity in the citation of judgments. The new system will facilitate easy access and retrieval of judgments, enhance transparency, and improve the overall efficiency of the judicial process.
The CJI-headed bench convened to hear time-sensitive cases for scheduling, during which the CJI declared that all judgments rendered by the highest court would adopt neutral citations. The Chief Justice of India conveyed that the court has introduced neutral citations, which would be applicable to approximately 30,000 verdicts. Additionally, he expressed his hope that the High Courts would likewise implement the same. The top court has employed machine learning tools to convert its judgments into Indian languages.
CJI DY Chandrachud has declared that the Supreme Court is translating its judgments into all languages using machine learning tools, and a team of district judges and law researchers is verifying the translations. So far, 2900 judgments have been translated, but the process can be challenging due to the difficulties in accurately translating legal terminology. The Supreme Court is providing funding for this initiative. As chairperson of the Supreme Court’s eCommittee in 2022, CJI DY Chandrachud formed a panel of three high court judges to create a framework for neutral citations that can be used for both high courts and the apex court.
Justices Rajiv Shakdher, Raja Vijayaraghavan V, and Suraj Govind Raj were appointed as committee members, and were asked to suggest modalities and submit a report to the eCommittee. Ramesh Babu, a member of the eCommittee, was announced as the convenor of the committee. Neutral citations aim to ensure a consistent citation format for all decisions made by both the Supreme Court and high courts. Recently, the Delhi and Kerala High Courts have implemented their own neutral citation systems.
