From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday provided a lawyer to an elderly litigant from Aligarh appeared in person and started arguing in Hindi a labour matter, telling him that the language of this court is English when he could not understand what the court was saying.
A Bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy provided a legal aid counsel to petitioner Shankar Lal Sharma when he started arguing in Hindi for not getting relief despite his case travelling o different courts, including the Supreme Court.
“We have read the case file. This is a very convoluted matter, but we are not able to understand what you are saying. The language of this court is English. If you wish, we can provide you a lawyer who will argue your case, Justice Joseph told Sharma. He could not comprehend what the judge said.
Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, who was appearing in another court, rushed to help Sharma and translated to him what the bench was saying. She told the Bench that he is willing to accept the court’s proposal to have a legal aid lawyer to argue his case.
The bench asked a lawyer sitting just behind Sharma if he can assist him and do it pro bono. “Yes, I will be doing it pro bono,” the lawyer said.
The Bench then posted the matter for further hearing on December 4 and asked the lawyer to study the case file.
