Last Updated on July 14, 2021 by Administrator
By Himani Baid
The Bombay High Court in the case of Ajinkya Mohan Udane v. Registrar General, Bombay High Court has made the use of A4 size paper printed on both sides for filing of pleadings in the High Court mandatory.
A notification dated July 6, 2021 was issued to use A4 size paper to minimize paper consumption amending the Bombay High Court (Appellate Side) Rules, 1960 and Bombay High Court (Original Side) Rules.
The circular stated that ‘All the pleadings, petitions, affidavits or other documents, etc. filed in the Registry, on Judicial side for the purpose of filing in the High Court and its Benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Panaji (Goa) and all other Courts in the State of Maharashtra, must have following specifications,
Superior quality A4 size paper having not less than 75 GSM with printing on both sides of the paper with Font – Times New Roman or Georgia, Font size 14 with an inner margin of 5 cms and outer margin of 3 cms.
The PIL was filed by Advocate Ajinkya Udane before the Bombay High Court seeking directions to the High Court registry to mandate the use of A4 size papers.
He referred to the Supreme Court circular that directed that filings on the judicial side would be in A4 size paper with both sides printed from April 1, 2020
When the matter came up before the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni on June13 advocate SR Nargolkar showing up for the High Court administration informed that an appropriate notification and circular to that effect had been issued, and the petition stood redressed,
Advocate PR Katneshwarkar appearing for the petitioner, Ajinkya Udane, stated the notification should be applicable in all subordinate courts in Maharashtra
Whereas SR Nargolkar said that a separate representation should be made for subordinate courts as well.
Furthermore, the Bench directed PR Katneshwarkar to make a representation to the Registrar General of the High Court to issue appropriate directions to the subordinate courts in Maharashtra to permit the use of A4 size papers in lower courts.
