Tagging Of Documents & Pleadings: Kerala HC Issues Directions To Registry On Writ Appeals Arising Out Of Writ Petitions Filed Online
The Kerala High Court issued directions in the matter of writ appeals arising out of writ petitions filed online.
The Court noted the report of the Registrar (Computerisation)- cum-Director IT which provided that the e-filing module for the filing of writ appeals had the capability to tag pleadings from the writ petition as part of the case bundle. This feature applied specifically to pleadings, including the documents submitted by both sides in the writ petition, and judgment.
A Division Bench of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice P.G. Ajithkumar observed, “In writ appeals arising out of writ petitions filed online, the pleadings in the writ petition, including the documents submitted by both sides, shall be tagged from the e-filing database to create a consolidated writ petition case bundle, to form part of writ appeal case bundle.”
Advocate Prakash M.P. appeared for the appellant, while Advocate P.P. Jacob represented the respondent.
The High Court clarified that the physical order sheet was not available for tagging through the e-filing module. The procedure proposed in the report is that, if the physical order sheet also needs to be tagged, the Section Assistant concerned can manually scan and upload the file through the section upload feature.
The Registry marked a Writ Appeal as a defect for not uploading a copy of the writ petition. The Appellant argued that since the original records of writ petition were with the Registry, asking the appellant to produce a copy of the same would be nothing "but a waste and against the principles of conservatism". Regarding the non-production of a copy of the writ petition, the Appellant stated that calling for records of the writ petition was the function of the appellate court.
“In writ appeals arising out of writ petitions filed offline, the pleadings in the writ petition, including the documents submitted by both sides, shall be digitized by the Registry within a period of six working days from the date of registration, which shall then be tagged from the e-filing database to create a consolidated writ petition case bundle, to form part of writ appeal case bundle,” the Court directed.
Rule 14 of the Electronic Filing Rules for Courts (Kerala), 2021 deals with hard copies of pleadings and documents electronically filed. As per sub-rule (1) of Rule 14, the Advocates and Party-in-Person can take hard copies of the pleadings and documents filed electronically for their use in the Court.
“The Registrar (Computerisation)-cum-Director IT Registry has reported that the issue relating to dispensing with the production of hard copies of pleadings and documents electronically filed is pending before the Committee in Charge of Computerisation. Therefore, at this point, we do not propose to issue any directions on the above aspect,” the Court stated.
Consequently, the Court observed, “Since both the unnumbered writ appeals arise out of writ petitions filed online, the appellant to cure the defect noted by the Registry regarding tagging of pleadings in the writ petition, in terms of the directions contained hereinbefore…Thereafter, the Registry shall number the writ appeals and list before the Division Bench as per the roster.”
Cause Title: M.K. Gopalan v. The Secretary, Rec Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society Ltd. & Ors.