Madras High Court asks trial courts not to insist on certified order copies of HC orders/ judgments

The Madras High Court Tuesday remarked that trial courts should not insist on certified copies of the orders and judgements of the high courts, since orders downloaded from the Court’s official website carry the same sanctity as certified copies..A bench of Justice M Sundar and R Sakthivel said it did not see a reason for judicial officers insisting on certified copies when lawyers submit copies downloaded from the website to save time and avoid inconvenience to parties..“It is high time we make use of technology. Certified copies and copies downloaded from our website are the same. What is the difference? I am only saying this because it will save time. Tomorrow, if you were to require an order copy in a case of emergency, say where one was to be taken in police custody immediately. I am just giving an example here, then what will you do?” the Court asked..The Court made the oral observations while pronouncing its order on an appeal filed by Madurai based lawyer Mohammed Abbas, who was arrested by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in May this year on charges of being associated with the banned Popular Front of India.After the Court granted Abbas bail, his lawyer, advocate R Vivekananthan requested the bench to add a direction in its order, asking the special NIA court to accept the downloaded order copy for releasing Abbas on bail. Advocate Vivekananthan said waiting for the certified copy was likely to take time and that would mean Abbas will have to stay in prison until the certified copy is available..At this, the Court expressed surprise and said it didn’t think a written direction was required and also said that certified copies and order copies downloaded from the official website were all the same.When Vivekananthan insisted, the bench asked the other members of the Bar present in Court what their experiences had been when submitting orders or judgements of the High Court before the trial courts.Additional public prosecutor E Raj Thilak, the NIA special public prosecutor N Baskaran and advocate M Velmurugan all said that while some judicial officers accept downloaded copies, most insist on certified copies..The Court then directed Raj Thilak to ensure that the special court accepts the downloaded copy in Abbas’ case.It also orally directed the additional public prosecutors and other prosecutors to ensure that downloaded order copies are accepted by trial courts in all cases..“The High Court has said many times earlier too that if a downloaded order copy has been attested by a lawyer, then there should not be any problem in accepting it. Please ensure there is no problem,” the Court said.