Allahabad High Court Amends Its Rules To Allow Use Of A4 Size Paper

However, it has not yet permitted printing on both sides of the paper.

The Registrant General has notified the Allahabad High Court (Amendment) Rules,2021 in exercise of its powers under Article 225 of the Constitution of India, thereby allowing the use of A4 Size Paper for all petitions, appeals, applications, etc., to be filed in the High Court.

The amendment comes as a consequence of a petition filed by four law students through Advocates Shashwat Anand and Ankur Azad, seeking permission for use of A4 size paper for all Judicial and Administrative purposes in the High Court, as well as all other Courts, Tribunals and District Courts in Uttar Pradesh. They had also sought permission for printing on both sides of paper.

Remarking that "the matter requires serious consideration on the administrative side", a Bench led by then Chief Justice Govind Mathur had directed the Petitioners to make a representation before the Registrar General, in pursuance of which, the High Court had issued a communication in November last year, stating that the High Court's Administrative Committee has resolved to place the matter before the Rules Committee for necessary amendments in the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952, General Rules (Civil), 1957 and General Rules (Criminal), 1977.

The High Court has now amended the 1952 Rules to allow filing of petitions, applications, etc. before itself, that are legibly written or printed on one side of A4 size paper (29.7 cm X 2l cm) having not less than 75 GSM and the formatting style of the text shall be as prescribed by the High Court from time to time.

It may be noted that amendments in the General Rules (Civil), 1957 and General Rules (Criminal), 1977, for the purpose of using A4 Size Paper in the district judiciaries, lower courts and tribunals, etc., are yet to be notified

It is also worthwhile to mention that the regime of using A4 size paper with printing on both sides has been adopted and put in place in the Supreme Court of India and several other High Courts, being Kerala High Court, Karnataka High Court, Tripura High Court, Uttarakhand High Court, etc.