Orders available on official websites of High Courts held to have sanctity: Bombay HC

Bombay High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Ravindra V. Ghughe, J. heard a miscellaneous civil application wherein the applicant had expressed his apprehension that orders available on the official website of the Bombay High Court and printed from there would not be considered a certified copy and that the trial court may insist upon producing a certified copy.

The Court held that the apprehension was misplaced since the print-outs from the official website of High Courts hold sanctity. And since the orders are also available before the trial court on the website, they can further be used for counter verification “to find out whether such an order is actually uploaded to the official website or not.” The Court also stated that “once the order is uploaded on the official website, it is a reliable document to be considered by the Court before whom it is cited.”

The Court further directed the Registrar of the Court to circulate this order to all the Principal District Judges of the District Courts in Maharashtra. [Shital Krushna Dhake v. Krushna Dhagdu Dhake, 2018 SCC OnLine Bom 206, order dated 02-02-2018]