The Writ Petition and Its Pleadings Can Be Tagged From The E-Filing Database, According To Kerala High Court’s Procedure For Filing Writ Appeal
Last Updated on October 1, 2024 by Arti Kumari
Last Monday, the Kerala High Court released guidelines for the filing of Writ Appeals. These guidelines provide that if a writ petition is filed online and its order is contested in the appeal, the pleadings and supporting documentation must be “tagged” from the e-file portal.
A division bench consisting of Justices Anil K. Narendran and P. G. Ajithkumar has issued the following additional directives:
- To create a consolidated writ petition case bundle that will be included in the writ appeal case bundle, the Registry must digitize the pleadings of the writ petition and all supporting documentation within six working days of the registration date, if the relevant writ petition was filed offline. The digitized documents will be tagged with the e-filing database.
- If the appellant requests that the writ appeal be brought before the Division Bench as soon as possible or within the previously mentioned six working days, the appellant must tag the writ appeal with a scanned copy of the pleadings in the writ petition, along with any documents submitted by both sides, in order to create a consolidated writ petition case bundle that will be included in the writ appeal case bundle.
- The concerned Section Assistant must “manually scan and upload it” if the writ petition’s physical order sheet needs to be linked to the writ appeal as well.
It is noteworthy that the Registrar (Computerization)-now-Director IT reported to the court that the e-filing portal can tag pleadings in a writ petition while filing a writ appeal. However, the study stated that the e-filing module is unable to tag physical order sheets. The concerned Section Assistant can scan that individually and upload it.
The concerned party must further submit paper copies of the pleadings and documents following the electronic filing. The Court was notified by the Registrar that the Computerization Committee is thinking about doing away with hard copy production.
The case was brought before the court when the Registry flagged a Writ Appeal as defective due to the failure to upload a copy of the writ petition. The appellant’s attorney contended that requesting a copy of the original writ petition documents would be “just a waste and against the principles of conservatism” because they are kept on file with the Registry. The learned counsel has indicated that the appeal court’s role is to request copies of the writ petition in relation to the non-production of said copy.
According to him, the Registry cannot require the appellant to always provide copies of all pleadings in addition to the memorandum of appeal. Furthermore, the daily orders that are issued—which reveal the process by which the final verdict is reached—will not be included in the pleadings of the writ petition. The appeal court would be unable to determine the learned Single Judge’s methodology by requesting the appellant to provide the pleadings. In a case where the writ petition is resolved after notice, he submitted, Rule 159 of the Rules of the High Court of Kerala, 1971 does not address the presentation of a copy of the writ petition. He said that it is against the rules to demand the presentation of the writ petition in addition to the interlocutory applications and to file writ appeals through the online site.
Case Title: M. K. Gopalan v The Secretary and Others
Citation No: WA NO. 1276 OF 2024(FILING NO.)
