Supreme Court rues practice of filing pleas without certified copy of HC orders

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has rued the practice of filing a special leave petition without a certified copy of the High Court's order or merely with a downloaded copy of the judgment challenged before it, in violation of the rules.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra made it mandatory from August 20, 2024 for all the litigants who proposed to file special leave petitions on civil and criminal side without the certified copy of the High Court's judgment or order, to bring on record an acknowledgement that they had applied for such copies along with an undertaking to place such judgment on record in future.

"We are pained to note that despite there being specific provisions in the 2013 Supreme Court Rules requiring a special leave petition to be accompanied by the certified copy of the impugned judgment and order, such provisions are observed more in the breach. Such a situation should not to be allowed to persist; so long the rules exist, there has to be substantial compliance," the bench said in its order.

The court said even if the certified copy is not available on the date of presentation of a special leave petition, proof of application for such copy has to be adduced for the court to consider the prayer for exemption.

"It has been our joint experience on the bench of this court (howsoever short it is) that in the vast majority of matters arising from the high courts and placed before us for decision, the special leave petitions are accompanied by applications seeking exemption from filing certified copies of the judgments and orders impugned in such petitions," the bench said.

The bench said invariably, the court accepts the statements made in such applications believing what have been stated as correct.

However, the bench said, "This mild approach of the court has generated a sense of belief among litigants that they can get away scot-free even by making statements which are far from the truth. It is high time that some sense of discipline is instilled so that the court is not taken for a ride."

The court pointed out in criminal matters, Rule 3 of Order XXII of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 ordained that the petitions shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the judgment or order appealed from. Similar provision is found in Rule 4 of Order XXI of the 2013 Rules for special leave petitions pertaining to civil matters.

The bench also noted litigants, finding that the court is lenient in such matters, seldom apply for and obtain such copy; more often than not, it is the downloaded copy of the impugned judgment and order which is annexed to the special leave petition.