Govt should use e-filing system to shift to paperless environment: Bombay HC

“We decline to take hard copies. It is incongruous that in an environmental PIL that seeks to protect wetlands, and filed by a social action group that seeks to protect forests, more and more paper is being used like this,” the court noted.

A bench of Justice Patel and Justice Gauri V Godse was hearing a PIL on August 10 filed by NGO Vanashakti, seeking directions to transfer more than 1,000 hectares of mangrove land in possession of various departments of the state government to its forest department.

Earlier this year, the petitioner NGO, through advocate Zaman Ali, had claimed that the authorities did not comply with the High Court’s September 2018 order wherein it had directed all mangrove areas to be declared forests and transferred to the forest department.

On Wednesday, after advocate G S Hegde, representing CIDCO, sought to file an affidavit, the court declined to accept the same in hard copy.

It observed, “There is now an e-filing system in place in this court. It is high time the state government and state government agencies start using the e-filing system. If matters carry on like this, we will never be able to shift to a paperless environment, and that is the avowed objective and goal of the state government itself.”

In October 2021, the e-committee of the Supreme Court had instructed all High Courts to make mandatory e-filing of cases or petitions by the government in all types of matters from January 1, 2022.

The bench directed that a copy of its order be sent to iHC registry to consider issuing appropriate directions or obtaining appropriate directions from Chief Justice of the High Court and posted further hearing in the PIL to September 13.

In July, 2021, to minimise the use of paper and “save the environment”, the Bombay High Court bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta had decided to allow lawyers to file pleas using A4-size papers printed on both sides, replacing the larger green-coloured foolscap-size paper that was used earlier.