Uttarakhand HC Notifies 'High Court Of Uttarakhand Rules, 2020'; A4 Paper & Both Side Printing Made Mandatory

The 'High Court Of Uttarakhand Rules, 2020' shall apply to all matters including petitions, memorandum of appeals, applications, affidavits, annexures, vakalatnama or any other material filed before the Court and they shall come into force from date of their Notification.

The Notification issued by the Uttarakhand High Court states that "All cases including petitions, memorandum of appeals, applications, affidavits, annexures, vakalatnama or any other material shall be filed in A-4 size 80 GSM white paper."

As stated, it has further made printing on both sides in all the proceedings mandatory.

[NOTE: For utilization of the existing stock of papers with the advocates, they have been allowed to use in alternative, legal size 80 GSM white papers for the aforesaid purpose, till 20.02.2021.]

The rules states that the Presentation Form, index, receipt of court fee and brief details of date and events of the case etc. shall be filed in following chronological order-

1. Presentation Form with blank format for scrutiny report on its overleaf.
2. Index.
3. Receipt of court fees paid.
4. Brief details of date and events of the case.
5. Other papers, if any, prior to the Petition, Memorandum of Appeal, Application etc.

Further, Petition, Memorandum of Appeal, Application etc. shall be filed in following chronological order-

1. Petition, Memorandum of Appeal, Application, as the case may be, with or without annexures.
2. Affidavit in support of the Petition, Memorandum of Appeal, Application, as the case may be, with or without annexures.
3. Interlocutory Application, if any.
4. Affidavit in support of the Interlocutory Application, if any.
5. Vakalatnama.
6. Other papers, if any.

Importantly, in any exceptional situation arising from natural calamity, disaster, pandemic or in any other extraordinary circumstance, the Chief Justice may order for deviation from these rules.

Also, The Provisions of the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952 (as applicable to High Court of Uttarakhand) shall continue to apply to all such matters, which are not covered under these rules.

The rules also contain 5 Formats (under Schedule To The Rules).

Related News

In November 2020, the Allahabad High Court permitted the use of A4 size paper for all Judicial and Administrative purposes in the High Court and all other Courts, Tribunals and District Courts subordinate to it.

Recently, the Orissa High Court has intimated that the administrative side of the Court is taking necessary steps on the issue pertaining to use of A4 sheets for filings before judicial forums in the state.

A Bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Dr. BR Sarangi made this observation while disposing of a PIL seeking permission for use of A4 sheets in the High Court and all other judicial forums in Orissa.

In October 2020, it was notified that all the petitions, affidavits, memoranda of appeal and other proceedings before the High Court of Sikkim and Subordinate Courts shall be filed in superior quality A4 sized paper.

A circular to this effect has been uploaded in the official website of the High Court. It is also made clear that the printing shall be done only on one side of the paper and the quality shall be at least 85 GSM.

Through a notification issued in September 2020, the Kerala High Court had allowed the use of A4 sheets for filing petitions, affidavits, memoranda of appeal and other proceedings before it.

The Kerala HC HAD said that all filings before it from November 2 onwards shall be mandatorily be typewritten/printed on both sides of A4 sheets.

In March 2020, the Tripura High Court had approved the use of A4 size papers for filing documents, with print on both the sides, both in the high court as well as the courts subordinate to it.

Through a notification issued in February 2020, the Calcutta High Court had allowed the use of white A4 sheets for filings on both its Original and Appellate sides

Last month, a PIL was filed before the Supreme Court seeking directions to all the High Courts, Tribunals, Judicial and Quasi-judicial bodies in the country, to permit use of A-4 sheets with printing on both sides in all the proceedings.

The writ petition, moved by the Youth Bar Association of India through Advocate Manju Jetley, states that use of single side of papers of different sizes in different forums prompts wastage and aggravates the users and manufacturers to abuse resources that are non-renewable.

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