Kerala High Court issues guidelines for litigants, lawyers on steps to file illegible documents

The Kerala High Court recently issued guidelines on the steps to be taken by litigants or their lawyers who seek to file documents and records that are not legible [Elsy Abraham v State of Kerala & ors]..The Division Bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and Harisankar V Menon passed the directions to ensure that the registry does not flag defects in such cases.To address the issues arising from the same and to ensure that the documents presented in Court are readable, the Bench proceeded to issue several key directions, including the following:1. The documents produced along with the memorandum of writ petitions, writ appeals and original petitions should be complete and readable.2. When the document is not clearly legible, a typed copy of the document duly certified by the advocate or party-in-person, as the case may be, has to be produced along with the original.3. When a only a particular portion or paragraph of the document produced is not legible, the advocate or the party-in-person has to produce a typed copy of that portion or paragraph along with the original for the time being. In such cases, the advocate or party in person shall give an undertaking that a typed copy of that document will be produced as and when directed by the Court.4. If only a specific portion of a document is not legible but not crucial for adjudication (and if a legible typed copy cannot be produced), the advocate or party-in-person can provide an undertaking that the unreadable portion will not be relied upon. The registry should number the matter based on such undertaking, subject to the orders by the concerned Bench. After making an endorsement to that effect in the office notes in bold letters, the registry is to list the matter before the Bench.5. The physical copies generated from the e-filing portal must meet legibility standards. The e-Seva Kendra's facilities should be utilized for scanning and processing documents to ensure clarity.The order was passed after the issue was referred to it by Acting Chief Justice A Muhamed Mustaque in July this year.The matter involved a batch of writ petitions and appeals in which the documents sought to be relied upon by the litigants and their lawyers were not legible.The Court was apprised that lawyers and litigant often face hurdles in getting their cases listed on account of objections raised by the registry over the poor legibility of case documents. Such delays in having the case listed for adjudication undermines the efficiency and integrity of the judicial process, the Court was told. .Among the petitions and appeals referred to the Bench were cases in which the litigants wished to rely on illegible government communications. Such government documents, especially old documents, are often not legible to begin with, it was pointed out. In another case, documents were rejected as defective by the registry because of dark shades or small font sizes. The Court was informed that in many cases, it was not possible to rectify such defects or secure a legible copy of the document sought to be relied on. The option of having the litigant submit a legible, typed copy of an illegible exhibit is also not practical in some cases, the Court was told. For instance, in an appeal challenging an Armed Forces Tribunal decision, the documents flagged as illegible ran into a large number of pages. The Court, therefore, issued directions to address the issues..Advocates Peeyus A Kottam and Hrithwik D Namboothiri appeared for an appellant in one case. Advocates PC Haridas, PK Soyuz, and Jelson J Edampadam represented certain respondents.Deputy Solicitor General of India TC Krishna and the President of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association (KHCAA), Yeshwanth Shenoy also appeared in the case..[Read Order]