Abu Dhabi declares 'Hindi' as its third official court language

Dubai: In its landmark decision Judicial Department of Abu Dhabi included Hindi as the third official court language, alongside Arabic and English, to improve access to justice for the largest expatriate community in the country.

It is to be mentioned that the UAE population is estimated to be around nine million of which 2/3rd are immigrants from foreign countries. The Indian community alone constitutes 30 percent of the total population in the UAE, numbering 2.6 million.

Judicial Department,on Saturday, had said it has extended the adoption of interactive forms of statement of claims filed before courts by including the Hindi language alongside Arabic and English in labour cases.

This is aimed at helping Hindi speakers to learn about litigation procedures, their rights and duties without a language barrier, in addition to facilitating registration procedures via unified forms available through the ADJD website, the judicial body said.

Yousef Saeed Al Abri, undersecretary of the ADJD, said the adoption of multilingual interactive forms for claim sheets, grievances and requests, aims to promote judicial services in line with the plan Tomorrow 2021, and increase the transparency of litigation procedures.

"This is in addition to facilitating registration procedures to the public through simplified and easy forms and raising litigants' legal awareness via interactive forms of the statements of claims, to ensure access to the legal materials related to the subject of the dispute," Al Abri said.