A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to mandate the use of A4 size sheets and printing on both sides in the Delhi High Court Delhi HC and its subordinate courts for all purposes in protecting the right of uniformity, environment and easy access of justice.
The petitioners, a group of law students, said that keeping in view the uniformity in terms of paper use and protection of the environment, the Supreme Court of India has already implemented the usage of A4 Size Paper and printing on both sides for all purposes.
For better uniformity and easy access to justice, it becomes necessary for the court to mandate the usage of A4 size paper similarly in the Delhi High Court and in its all subordinate courts, the plea said.
It also said that the practice of using legal size paper/foolscap paper is a British colonial practice and has been making justice only costly and inaccessible. This is an arbitrary exercise and is in violation of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the plea said.
"A4 Size Paper is easily available and is being used by all Government Departments and Corporate Sector which are the major litigants. It is only in Courts where the legal-size paper is being used exclusively without any logic or reason," the plea said.
It said that it is an undeniable fact that courts are for people and people are not for courts. Hence, the procedure and practice in the courts must be people-friendly for easy access to justice, the plea said.
The plea mentioned the use of single-side printing of legal size paper in comparison to the double-side printing of A4 size paper is detrimental to the health of our environment as there would be more cutting of trees, more wastage of paper and degradation of the environment.
According to the petition, the High Courts of Kerala, Tripura and Calcutta have also implemented the use of A4 size paper and printing on both sides of the paper for all purposes.
Hence, without any further delay, it becomes necessary for the Delhi High Court immediately to adopt a similar practice of using A4 size paper and printing on both sides of the paper for all purposes in the interest of uniformity, environment and easy access to justice, the plea said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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