The Delhi High Court on Monday granted further six weeks time to the Registrar of High Court of Delhi and the Delhi Government to file a status report on a plea seeking directions to make rules/regulations for the Courts/tribunals which are subordinate to the High Court of Delhi under the aegis of Article 227 of the Constitution of India, Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and or Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. 

A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rekha Palli was hearing the matter through video-conferencing. 

The petition averred that Delhi District Courts do not provide certain provision to the litigants, which hampers the administration of justice. They are:

• The Diary Number is not generated/provided for any kind of filings (Submission of Pleadings/Application) before the District Courts.

• The Interlocutory Applications/Criminal Application number are not generated for any filings of such application before the District Courts.

• There are no provisions for the online submissions of the pleadings / applications before the District Courts.

• There are no provisions for the online request for the certified copy of the orders / judgments / case files before the District Courts.

• There are no provisions for checking the online information status of any filing of the pleadings / applications before the District Courts.

The petition states that the petitioner in person, Advocate Abhijit Mishra, has made several representations about lack of rule/regulations regarding administration of justice for District Courts in front of:

a) The Chief Justice, Delhi High Court.

b) The Registrar General, Delhi High Court,

c) The District and Sessions Judges, District Courts of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

d) The Principal Secretary, Department of Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs, Government of NCT of Delhi.

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The petitioner has relied upon Writ Petition of 2020, Anand Vaid vs Preety Vaid and Ors, where a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court had acknowledged the difficulties faced by the litigants and Advocates by the lack of rules and regulations in the District Courts in physical filing and directed the Delhi High Court to examine the Standard Operating Procedure and take decision on simultaneous fling of digital pleadings/records, and digitization of pending cases.

The Court on previous date had asked the Delhi High Court and the Delhi Government to file status reports addressing the issue pointed out by the petitioner. The next date for hearing is December 20.

The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court and Delhi Government in a petition seeking a direction to make, and issue general rules for regulating the practice and proceedings of District Courts in the best interest of the justice. Justice Rekha Palli remarked it is a positive petition and said the lower courts are the responsibility of the High Court. 

This petition has been filed by Abhijit Mishra in the interest of the administration of justice in the subordinate courts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The bench issued a notice in a non-adversarial plea and listed this matter for further hearing on August 16. This petition is seeking a writ of mandamus for rules/regulations for the District Courts which are subordinate to the High Court of Delhi for the benefit of the litigants and advocates.

The petitioner submitted that the infrastructure of the District Court is requiring to be upgraded for the Phase III of the E-Courts project of the Supreme Court of India. The petitioner submitted that the High Court of Delhi has not issued notification /rules/regulations for administrative system/procedure for registration of applications in court cases of the District Courts under the aegis of Article 227 of the Constitution of India or Code of Civil Procedure 1908 or Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

The petitioner pointed out some infrastructural shortcomings the advocates of the District Court face as the Delhi District Courts do not provide the following to the litigants which eventually hamper the administration of justice.

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• 1. The Dairy Number is not generated/provided for any kind of filings (Submission of Pleadings / Application) before the Honourable District Courts.
• 2. The Interlocutory Applications / Criminal Application number is not generated for any filings of such application before the Honourable District Courts.
• 3. There is no provision for the online submissions of the pleadings/applications before the Honourable District Courts.
• 4. There is no provision for the online request for the certified copy of the orders/judgments / case files before the Honourable District Courts.
• 5. There is no provision for checking the online information status of any filing of the pleadings/applications before the Honourable District Courts.