Kerala High Court orders Registry not to accept statements filed by lawyers on instructions unless it is verified affidavit

The Kerala High Court recently directed the Registrar (Judicial) to not accept any statements filed by lawyers merely on the basis of instructions received from their clients, as the Code of Civil Procedure and the High Court Rules state that affidavits have to be on the basis on information traced from official record [Bilal S & Anr. v Regional Passport Officer & Anr.]..Justice Amit Rawal directed the Registrar to immediately desist from accepting any statements filed by lawyers unless they are duly verified affidavits and contain information based on available official records."The practice of filing the statement by the lawyer is not provided under the High Court Rules and Regulations. Registrar (Judicial) is directed not to accept any statement filed by the lawyers purported to be a reply or a counter to the pleadings of the writ petition. It has to be a counter affidavit duly verified by the authorised officer and the information disclosed in the affidavit has to be on the basis of the official record available. In case such compliance is not made, this Court may be constrained to take disciplinary action against the officers as well as the staff of the Registry who are entertaining such statements," the order stated..The Court was considering a petition relating to the name of the petitioners' father being mentioned incorrectly in their passports.The respondents contested the matter by filing a statement on the basis of the instructions received from the Regional Passport Officer in a letter.Based on the same, it was contended that at the time of the submission of the applications, the birth certificates had the name as included in the passports that were issued later.However, the affidavit did not disclose whether the birth certificate was of the Registrar of Birth and Death or of some Municipality or local Panchayat. The Court went through the birth certificates of the petitioners and saw that their births were registered at the Alappuzha Municipality and that they do not reflect the name that was mentioned in the passport issued by the respondents.Moreover, it noted that the respondents had not placed on record any material in support of the “statement”, which cannot be filed in the absence of any provision in the High Court Rules."It is strange that the advocates on the basis of the instructions are filing the statement and that too, not in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure and the format prescribed under the High Court Rules, as for every department, affidavit has to be on the basis of the information traced from the official record and not as per the instructions," the Court observed.Therefore, it directed the Registrar to only accept affidavits that comply with the Rules and posted the matter for further consideration on August 1..[Read Order]