The Supreme Court on Tuesday raised serious concerns over what it called an “alarming” trend of lawyers relying on artificial intelligence tools to draft petitions without proper verification, after multiple instances of fictitious judgments and fabricated quotations surfaced in court filings.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice BV Nagarathna said it had increasingly encountered pleadings that appeared to be AI generated and contained serious inaccuracies.

Fake Cases And Fabricated Quotes Raise Alarm

During the hearing, the judges highlighted examples where non existent cases were cited as precedents. Justice Nagarathna referred to one such instance involving a purported case titled “Mercy vs Mankind,” which she said simply does not exist.

The Chief Justice noted that similar problems had been flagged earlier in proceedings before Justice Dipankar Datta, where cited precedents were found to be entirely fabricated. The bench stressed that such errors cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents.

Equally troubling, the court said, were instances where lawyers cited genuine Supreme Court judgments but attributed quotations that never appeared in the actual rulings. Justice Nagarathna observed that this practice forces judges to spend additional time verifying extracts instead of relying on the accuracy of submissions.

Decline In Drafting Standards

Justice Bagchi also expressed concern about what he described as a deterioration in legal drafting quality. He remarked that many Special Leave Petitions now consist largely of lengthy extracts from judgments rather than clear, original arguments.

Recalling earlier generations of advocates, he noted that senior lawyers were known for precise and concise pleadings, a standard he suggested was now under strain.

The court acknowledged that technology can assist legal research and case preparation. However, it emphasised that the responsibility for accuracy rests squarely with lawyers. Every citation and quotation must be checked against authorised sources before being presented in court.

The observations reflect a wider judicial unease over the unchecked use of AI in legal practice, as courts across India increasingly encounter filings containing unverifiable or misleading material.

Long or Short, get news the way you like. No ads. No redirections. Download Newspin and Stay Alert, The CSR Journal Mobile app, for fast, crisp, clean updates!

App Store –  https://apps.apple.com/in/app/newspin/id6746449540 

Google Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inventifweb.newspin&pcampaignid=web_share