Kerala High Court Lays Down Procedure For Filing Writ Appeal; Says Writ Petition, Its Pleadings, Can Be Tagged From The E- Filing Database

The Kerala High Court last week issued directions regarding filing of Writ Appeals, stating that in case of a writ petition filed online–the order of which is challenged in the appeal–its pleadings as well as documents filed therein shall be "tagged" from the e-file portal.

The other directions issued by a division bench of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice P. G. Ajithkumar include:

1. If the concerned writ petition is filed offline, the Registry shall digitize the pleadings of the writ petition including the documents submitted by both sides within six working days from the date of registration, which will then be tagged with the e-filing database to create a consolidated writ petition case bundle, to form part of writ appeal case bundle.

2. In case the appellant requires such a writ appeal to be moved before the Division Bench immediately or before six working days as aforesaid, a scanned copy of the pleadings in the writ petition, including the documents submitted by both sides, shall be tagged by the appellant to the writ appeal to create a consolidated writ petition case bundle, to form part of writ appeal case bundle.

3. If the physical order sheet of the writ petition also needs to be tagged to the writ appeal then the concerned Section Assistant shall "manually scan and upload it".

Notably, the Registrar (Computerisation) – cum- Director IT had submitted a report before the Court that e-filing portal has the capacity to tag pleadings of the writ petition while filing writ appeal. The report however said that physical order sheet cannot be tagged through the e-filing module. That can be scanned separately and uploaded by the concerned Section Assistant.

After e-filing, the concerned party also need to submit hard copies of the pleadings and documents. The Registrar informed the Court that the Committee in charge of computerization is considering dispensing with the production of hard copies.

The matter came to the Court when the Registry marked a Writ Appeal as defect for not uploading a copy of the writ petition. The Counsel for the Appellant argued that since the original records of writ petition are 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 learned counsel has stated that calling for records of the writ petition is the function of the appellate court.

He said that the Registry cannot insist that in all cases, the appellant shall produce copies of all pleadings along with the memorandum of appeal. Further, the pleadings of the writ petition will not include the daily orders issued, which would show how the final verdict is arrived at. By asking the appellant to produce the pleadings would disable the appellate court to find how the learned Single Judge has arrived at the conclusion. Rule 159 of the Rules of the High Court of Kerala, 1971 does not speak about the production of a copy of the writ petition, in a case in which the writ petition is decided after notice, he submitted. Insisting production of writ petition along with interlocutory applications, while filing writ appeals in the online portal is against the Rules, he added.

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