Delhi HC refuses to entertain plea seeking direction on Uniform Judicial Code

New Delhi, April 18 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking direction to the Law Commission to prepare a report on the Uniform Judicial Code (UJC), in order to make legal terms, abbreviations, case registration processes, and other aspects of the legal system similar across the country.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Yashwant Varma asked Upadhyay to seek clarification in respect of an order passed by the Supreme Court which had dismissed a similar plea moved by him as withdrawn.

"Learned counsel for the petitioner prays for liberty to withdraw the petition. Dismissed as withdrawn," the Supreme Court had said in its order.

Accordingly, the PIL was withdrawn by Upadhyay. However, the court granted him liberty to seek clarification of the order of the top court.

"The petition is withdrawn with liberty," the bench said.

A plea was moved in the High Court on April 13 by petitioner-lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

Comparing judicial terms, abbreviations, norms, phrases, court fees and case registration processes between the Delhi High Court and the Allahabad High Court, there is a huge difference, Upadhyay had said in his plea filed in form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

The plea cited instances of various variant terms employed by Rajasthan High Court and Bombay High Court benches and claims that these led to misunderstandings.

Upadhyay also drew attention to the disparities in court fees demanded for cases with similar facts and values in other states, which causes injury to citizens.

"Unequal court fees in different states discriminate among citizens based on their place of birth and residence," the plea added.

It further claimed that courts are demanding separate court fees, which is against the rule of law and the right to justice, in addition to utilising different judicial terminology, phrases, and acronyms and adopting different standards and procedures for case registration.

In order to standardise judicial words, acronyms, norms, phrases, court fee structures, and case registration procedures, the PIL prays that the Law Commission of India be directed to prepare a thorough report on the UJC in consultation with the High Courts.

The PIL prayed that the Law Ministry be directed to take appropriate steps to prepare a comprehensive report on UJC in consultation with the High Courts and constitute an Expert Committee to prepare a comprehensive report on UJC in consultation with the High Courts.

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