New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): The Supreme Court on Tuesday voiced serious concern over lawyers relying on Artificial Intelligence tools to draft petitions after a plea cited a judgment that does not exist.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, made the remarks during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by academician Roop Rekha Verma seeking guidelines on political speeches. The court said it was troubling to see AI-generated content being filed without proper scrutiny.
Justice Nagarathna pointed out that she had recently come across a citation to a supposed case titled “Mercy vs Mankind,” which was not traceable in any official legal records. Chief Justice Kant added that in Justice Dipankar Datta’s court, several such instances had emerged where fabricated judgments were cited in pleadings.
The Bench observed that in some cases, lawyers had referred to genuine judgments but inserted quotes that were never part of the original rulings. Justice Nagarathna said such practices impose an additional burden on judges, who must then spend time verifying the authenticity of each citation and quotation.
Justice Bagchi expressed concern over what he described as a decline in legal drafting standards. He noted that many Special Leave Petitions were packed with long extracts from earlier judgments but lacked clear and independent articulation of legal arguments, making it harder for the court to identify the core issues.
The Supreme Court has been adopting AI and Machine Learning tools in its administrative functions, including translating judgments into regional languages and improving case management systems. However, the judges stressed that technology is meant to assist, not replace, professional responsibility.
The court underlined that every legal reference placed on record must be checked against authorised sources. It cautioned that unverified AI-generated material can compromise the credibility of judicial proceedings and delay the delivery of justice.
