Madras High Court to introduce neutral citation system for its judgments

The Madras High Court will introduce a neutral citation system for all its judgments uploaded on the official website of the Court beginning January 1, 2023. .The neutral citation number of the High Court will consist of the following three elements: "Year/MHC/Auto Generated Number.".The citation number in the new format will be available at the top left of each page of its order or judgment, a circular issued by Registrar General of the Madras High Court, P Dhanbal said. "The mode of citation for neutral citation of Madras High Court will be 'Year/MHC/auto generated number'. A unique neutral citation number for every order/ judgment uploaded generated on and from January 1, 2023 and will be available at the top left part of each page of the order/ Judgment which will be the auto generated part of this mode of citation," the circular issued on December 30 said.The circular further stated that an additional search field has also been created under 'Judgments – PDF Judgment' link to facilitate search of relevant judgments by their neutral citation number, in addition to other key words. The Delhi High Court had recently introduced a neutral citation system for all its judgments uploaded on the official website of the court.The Kerala High Court too recently decided to implement a Unique Neutral Citation Number for all its judgments and orders passed since 1949.In November this year, the Supreme Court had constituted a three-member panel of High Court judges to develop and implement a uniform and unique citation for apex court judgments..[Read Circular]