Team Herald
PANJIM: The State-appointed Portuguese translators have found themselves in a predicament after the government imposed some certain conditions. Over one-and-half dozen experts in Portuguese, selected after a tough examination, have been translating various documents for several years. However, quite a few clauses imposed during the recent empanelment of translators have led to apprehensions on their liberty to work.
Clauses such as submitting monthly reports of the translations via hard copies, contributing Rs 35 per page to the State along with soft copies of translation of each document, State’s Review Committee to be final authority in case of disputes arising pertaining to translation, are among a list of conditions that have created confusion.
Sources said the translators are also upset over the swapping of departments without taking any stakeholder into confidence. “We were previously working under the Department of Official Language but recently, the department is changed to Directorate of Archives and Archaeology. What is the reason behind the change in department,” asked one of the empanelled translators while speaking to Herald.
Ironically, the department was itself taken aback when the government conveyed its decision to shift the department. “It was surprising. In the month of May, the government sent us a letter that henceforth the Portuguese translators’ empanelment will be carried out by Archives Department,” an official said, when contacted by Herald for a comment on the issues raised by the translators.
Another clause asking to route translation of Portuguese documents through the Directorate of Archives & Archaeology has taken the experts by surprise.
Advocate Rui Ferreira, amongst the empanelled translators, has suggested against this clause arguing that the people possess documents which are highly confidential to be produced before the Court. As such, he said, confidentiality has to be maintained. “The wording of this clause be changed accordingly,” he suggested.
Payment of Rs 350 towards translation of each page has been termed as ‘meagre’ by the aggrieved translators. “It is a meagre amount to the work undertaken out of love for language and land whose culture is preserved in that language. The government/finance department had no business to set a fee for a purely private academic venture without any provision of law to enforce the same,” Ferreira said.
The translators, all of whom have already expressed their grievance to the department, also objected to another clause that demands maintaining a separate record of translations which are not routed through the department. It also seeks submitting a soft copy to the department. Ferreira stated that translation is their copyright and disclosing it might pose a risk on its misuse by the department and the staff.
The empanelled translators have also sought modification of a clause in which they are asked to contribute Rs 35 per page to the State along with soft copy of the translated documents.
So also, the translators argued that the Review Committee is a Court as the Department’s order mentioned it will be the final authority in case of disputes arising with regard to translated matters. Decision is also binding on the concerned. “Your Review Committee is not a Court established by law just because it is published in the official gazette. One may not accept their rulings as they do not have the force of law not being statutory body. Finally we wonder if they themselves understand legal words in Portuguese,” the suggestion stated adding the Clause is ‘unacceptable.’
Despite raising objection to these clauses, the government is in no mood for an amendment. Sources said that the terms and conditions will remain the same. “We had a meeting with officials from the Minister of Archives and Archives Department with the translators. They raised their grievances which were forwarded to the government for necessary action. The government then decided terms and conditions will not be altered or modified. It will remain as it is,” an official said.
However, the department did have a justification about why it was seeking a copy of the translated documents while also clarifying that it is seeking translated copies of only those documents, which were/are issued by the Department only.
“It is a misconception by certain sections that the Archives Department is encroaching into other Portuguese documents and its translated copies. We are seeking only those copies issued by our department. The soft copies are being sought since it will be useful in the coming years,” the official said, adding that the present empanelled translators are thorough with the language used in the 19th century. “We want to create a repository of translations.”
