Issue of using A4 sheets in court for filing purposes pending before e-committee: HC told

PTI, Jul 12, 2022, 3:41 PM IST

The Delhi High Court was informed on Tuesday by its administrative side that the issue of using both sides of A4 sheets for filing purposes was pending before the e-committee.

Legal-size paper — which is longer– is normally used for filing purposes.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad granted six weeks to the Centre and the high court’s administrative side to file a report on the issue.

The bench said the decision taken by the high court on the use of A4 size paper for filing purposes be also brought on record before the next date of hearing on September 9.

The high court was hearing a plea by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which claims to be a think tank registered under the Indian Trusts Act, contending that using both sides of A4 sheets would not only protect the environment but also reduce the requirement for paper and take up less space for storage.

During the hearing, the bench inquired as to what was the problem with using A4 size sheets.

The counsel for the high court’s administrative side submitted that the matter is now before the e-committee for its approval and some breathing time be granted to it.

The Central government standing counsel Anil Soni said he was yet to receive comments from the department concerned.

The CASC, represented through advocate Virag Gupta, has said that by switching to A4 sheets the high court would save around 6.7 lakh sheets of paper which in turn would save around 80 trees and 67 lakh litres of water per month.

”If the usage of double-sided pages is expanded to Delhi District Courts, it would cause savings of 72.53 lakh pages, which in turn will save 870 trees and 7.25 crore litres of water in one month alone,” the petition said.

”Moreover, the litigants face multiple issues in obtaining legal-sized paper, which is not freely available as A4 paper. Thus, standardising paper size to A4 before the courts will be in furtherance to providing access to justice,” it said.

The council had earlier said that the Supreme Court and various high courts in the country have resolved to use double-sided sheets.