Web copies of judgments can be relied upon subject to authenticity, Chhattisgarh HC

A Division Bench of the Chhattisgarh High Court has held that web copies of orders/judgments taken from the official High Court website can be relied upon in court, subject to the authenticity of the same..The Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Ram Prasanna Sharma passed the order while hearing an appeal against an order of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal..“In order to set the matter at rest we hold that web copy of the orders/judgments passed by this Court as is available in the official website of the High Court of Chhattisgarh can be relied upon unless the opposite party raises a doubt about the authenticity of the web copy.”.The question of whether a web copy could be relied upon in a court was raised by Maneesh Sharma, who is the standing counsel for the Revenue department of the Chhattisgarh government..Sharma had been hesitant to hand over a web copy of an order that would substantiate his arguments, because several courts and authorities were unwilling to accept the authenticity of the same, he claimed. The Bench agreed with this submission..“After hearing the leaned counsels for some time, their apprehension does not appear to be wholly unfounded, as we have come across several complaints by the Lawyers about the reluctance of the Courts and authorities to accept the web copy even for immediate purpose in urgent cases.”.The Bench then went on to clarify that web copies of orders and judgments could be relied upon. It cited an order passed by a Single Judge of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court to buttress its finding. That order states,.“I am of the view that this apprehension is misplaced since the print out of the orders of this court from the official website has sanctity and the trial Courts are expected to consider the said orders, if they are cited after taking a print out from the official website. .The said orders are also available before the trial Court from the official website and there can be a counter verification to find out whether such an order is actually uploaded to the official website or not. In this backdrop, there is no harm if such a print out from the official website is placed before this Court.”.Therefore, the Bench held that trial courts and other subordinate authorities in Chhattisgarh must accept web copies of orders/judgments in urgent cases where a delay in the production of a certified copy could lead to a miscarriage of justice..In case of any apprehension as to the authenticity of a order, the authorities can always verify whether the said order/judgment had indeed been uploaded on the official website, the Court further observed..The Additional Registrar (Judicial) has been instructed to circulate a copy of the order to all District Judges, Collectors and the state’s Chief Secretary..Read the order