Bombay High Court to decide on plea seeking the use of A4 size paper for court filings on administrative side

Bombay High Court today decided that the plea seeking the use of A4 size papers, printed on both sides, for court filings will be taken up by its administrative side..The Court also orally observed that they were glad a plea for the same was filed. The Bench added that a favourable order would be passed by the Court on the administrative side..The Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni were hearing a PIL filed by Sujoy Joshi, practising Advocate. Advocates Ajinkya Udane, Abhay Anturkar and Ranjit Shinde represented Joshi..It was submitted before the Court that if the plea is allowed then there would be a huge saving of paper and storage space, eventually helping maintain the green cover of the planet..The plea also sought directions to the appropriate authority to make amendments in the Bombay High Court (Appellate Side) Rules, 1960 and Bombay High Court (Original Side) Rules, 1980 to implement the use of A4 paper printed on both sides..The plea added that such directions should also include the subordinate judicial and quasi-judicial courts of Maharashtra..The plea noted that in order to solve issues pertaining to infrastructural and storage crunch, the Courts had already initiated the scanning and digitization of records in the High Court and District Courts..It was pointed out that scanning can be done more efficiently with the use of A4 size paper, which is smaller in size..The Advocates also invited the Court’s attention to the Circular of the Supreme Court issued in March 2020, where filings in A4 size paper was allowed..Supreme Court grants exemption from filing petitions and other documents in A4 size till June 15 .They further apprised the Court about notifications and directions of different High Courts in the country which allowed filings in A4 size paper printed on both sides, namely, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata.