In Brief
The Supreme Court considered whether vast multilingual records (38,147 pages, including 12,814 in Hindi) from a high-profile civil appeal complied with rules requiring English translations of non-English documents. The Court found non-compliance with Supreme Court Rules Order XIX Rule 11(1) and Order VIII Rule 2(b). Rather than immediately proceeding to hearing, the Court directed parties to verify the accuracy of translations made by the State of Uttar Pradesh and by the parties within eight weeks. The Court also suggested invoking court-appointed mediation under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to attempt settlement, while deferring final orders on mediation to a reconstituted bench on 6 March 2019. The matter was adjourned to allow parties to review translations and for the Court to consider whether to initiate the mediation process.
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