Insistence on part of State to serve hard copy of petition is not acceptable: Allahabad High Court pulls up State for not accepting e-notices

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday pulled up the State government's legal department for not accepting e-notices/petitions during the COVID-19 pandemic (Mohd. Ahmad v. State of UP)..The Court said that at a time when courts are functioning virtually, such insistence on part of the State "to serve a hard copy of the petition in their office is not acceptable.".A Division Bench of Justices Manoj Kumar Gupta and Gautam Chowdhary said that serving of notice through e-mail is now a legally recognized method. .The Court made these observations while hearing a criminal matter which was filed online. Before filing the petition, notice was served to the State on its email address "freshcriminalwrit@gmail.com". Counsel for the government, however, submitted that the State was not accepting notices by email or by virtual mode. Thus, counsel for the petitioners was required to serve a hard copy of the petition in the office of the government counsel, he said..After the Court took objection to this stand, it asked government advocate SK Pal to assist the Court with some suggestions. Government counsel JK Upadhyay told the Bench that necessary instructions have been issued to the office staff to facilitate acceptance of e-notices from May 27 onwards..The suggestions tendered by the government advocate were accepted by the Court with the following modifications.(i) In all cases in which notices are served by e-mail by 2 P.M., the return e-mail providing notice number shall be sent on the same day by 5 P.M. in the evening. (ii) In cases in which notices are received by e-mail after 2 P.M., the return e-mail providing notice number shall be sent by 1 P.M., the following working day..The Registrar General of the High Court was directed to forward a copy of this order to the Computer Committee, which was requested to frame a similar scheme for service of notices upon the Chief Standing Counsel in civil matters that are filed by online mode..[Read Order]