Telangana High Court Allows A4 Size Papers, Back To Back Printing For Pleadings & Internal Communications

The Telangana High Court has allowed the usage of A4 size papers to be printed on both sides for filing pleas and internal communications at all levels of Judiciary in the State, so as to save paper and free up storage space.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Sathish Chandra Sharma and Justice A. Rajeshekar Reddy noted that the Full Court had already taken a decision to use only A4 size paper back-to-back and that the consequential notification and amendment will be issued very soon.

Accordingly, it directed the High Court to issue a necessary notification to the effect as expeditiously as possible, preferably within 30 days.

The Court was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate Mayur Mundra, who sought to mandate the use of A4 size papers, printed on both sides for all judicial purposes in the High Court of Telangana and all subordinate courts.

The contention of the petitioner was that the said act would save paper, result in the felling of fewer trees and free up storage space in the court. Almost 386 million hectares of forest were lost in the last 2 decades which leads to loss of wood harvest, stated the petitioner. 

The plea also cited a Supreme Court circular dated 5th March 2020 which proposed to bring uniformity in the use of paper and printing thereon to minimize consumption of paper and consequently save the environment, wherein it mandated the use of superior quality A4 size paper with printing on both sides.  

The petitioner argued that following the Apex Court's footsteps, the Kerala High Court had also issued a similar Notification in September 2020. 

"The world is moving in the direction that emphasized the importance of environmental consciousness, a small change brought at an institutional level can have a widespread impact," the plea reads.

The Chief Justice pointed out that the item was included in the administrative committee meeting of the full court to ensure its implementation at the earliest, and the same was also approved.

Accordingly, the Court directed the High Court to issue notification for the usage of A4 size paper for filing pleas and internal communications at all levels of Judiciary in the state within a period of 30 days.

Case Title: Mayur Mundra v. State of Telangana & Ors.

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