In
exercise of powers under Articles 225 and 227(2)(b) of the Constitution of
India, Section 122 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Section 477(1 )(d) of
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Clauses 37 and 38 of the Letters Patent
and all other powers enabling and with the approval of the Governments of Tamil
Nadu and Puducherry. the High Court of Judicature at Madras makes the following
Rules: Whereas it is necessary and
expedient to enable and regulate the filing procedure in Courts and Tribunals
through online electronic filing; and 1.1. These Rules shall be called Madras High Court
e-Filing Rules, 2020. 1.2. These Rules shall apply to Madras High Court
and to all Courts/Tribunals (except Tribunals established by Acts of
Parliament) situate within the territories of the State of Tamil Nadu and the
Union Territory of Puducherry under the supervisory jurisdiction of the Madras
High Court. 1.3. These Rules shall apply to on-line e-filing and
e-filing through Designated Counters and facilities provided for e-filing,
including e-Service Centres. 1.4. These rules shall apply to such categories of
cases as would be notified by the Chief Justice of the High Court from time to
time. 1.5. These Rules shall come into effect on such date
as the High Court of Judicature at Madras may appoint by notifications in the
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Government Gazettes, 2. 1. Action:- includes
all proceedings instituted in the Court such as suits, criminal complaints,
writ petitions, execution petitions, arbitration applications, probate cases,
contempt petitions, including interlocutory applications, appeals, review and
revisions arising thereof, by whatever name called; but does
not include actions to be presented into Court in person like private complaint
under section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, indigent suit under
Order XXXIII of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or any other action which is
required to be presented in person under the applicable law. 2. 2. Administrator:- means the
Registrar (IT) or an officer appointed/nominated by the Chief Justice of High
Court and includes an officer appointed/nominated by the Principal District
Judge/Chairman or President of Tribunals, as the case may be, for administering
and dealing with matters connected with or relating to e-filing. 2. 3. Designated Counters:- means and
includes those counters as mentioned in Appendix-I. 2. 4. Electronic Filing (e-filing):- means e-filing
as prescribed through the Internet (at the web portal of the Court) or through
the internet/intranet at Designated Counters, unless the context requires
otherwise. 2. 5. Objections:- means and
includes deficiencies and errors pointed out by the Registry in relation to the
Actions instituted in the Court. 2. 6. Original Party:- means any
person or entity who initiates an action, by whatever name called/described. 2. 7. Opposite Party:- means any
person or entity who is adversary to an action, by whatever name
called/described. 2. 8. Physical Filing:- means
Actions and pleadings filed as hard copies at the Registry of the Court or the
Tribunal as the case may be. 2. 9. Pleadings:- means
statements filed in support or defence of an Action as provided under
applicable law. 2. 10. PDF:- means an
electronic document filed in a Portable Document Format, 2. 11. PDF/A:- means an
ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for
the digital preservation of electronic documents. 2. 12. Practice Directions:- means
directions issued by the Chief Justice from time to time for effective and
efficient filing of proceedings in Court by e-Filing. 2. 13. Registered user:- means an
Advocate or a party in person who is registered in the e-Filing portal by
complying with the required registration procedure. 2. 14. Registry:- means the
Registry of the Court/Tribunal, 2. 15. Technical failure:- means a
failure of the court's hardware, software, and/or telecommunications facility
which results in the impossibility of submitting a file electronically.
Technical failure does not include malfunctioning of the equipment of the
person submitting an e-file for initiating an action. 2. 16. Third Party:- means any
person or entity seeking to become a party or to intervene in an action, by
whatever name called/described. 2. 17. Working Day:- means and includes a day when the
Registry of the Court functions. 3.1. On-line e-filing shall be made through
designated web portals of the respective courts. 3.2. Except as provided in these Rules. Actions,
whether fresh, pending or disposed shall be filed electronically by a
registered user from their home, office or other remote location in the manner
provided in these Rules. 3.3. Any person who is unable to access the e-filing
portal would be entitled to make use of the facilities provided at the
Designated Counters for that purpose upon payment of charges as prescribed and
notified by the High Court. 3.4. The size of the e-file should not exceed 20 MB.
However, if the file exceeds 20 MB, it can be split up and uploaded separately. 4.1. Every Advocate or Party in Person who intends
to make e-filing shall register on the e-filing portal of Hon'ble E-Committee
of Supreme Court of India. The Registered User's login ID/username, password,
and profile will constitute the Registered User's electronic identity and user
account for the purpose of e-filing. 4.2. Registration of an Advocate or litigant in
person as a Registered User shall be as per the procedure prescribed in the
practice directions. 4.3. Litigants in person shall submit an affidavit/undertaking
that they have not engaged an Advocate in the Action in the format provided in
Appendix VII. 4.4 Responsibilities of Registered User- (a)
It will be the responsibility of the registered user to have a
valid and working email address to receive notification from e-filing portal
electronically, it will not be the responsibility of Court to ascertain whether
a registered user is receiving notifications from the e-filing system via email
or not. (b)
If the registered user's email address, phone number, or other
information provided on e-filing portal has changed, the registered user must
promptly make the necessary changes to his or her profile. (c)
A registered user shall be liable for: (i)
any conduct undertaken using his/her user ID; (ii)
the conduct of any person to whom access is provided by him/her by
sharing his/her user ID and password; (iii)
any inappropriate conduct may result in suspension of the account
or other proceedings as may be initiated under the Law for the time being for
contempt of court, or commission of an offence under relevant Saws in force at
the time of the inappropriate conduct. It shall be presumed that the
document(s) has(ve) been filed by the person using the user id; (d)
It shall be the responsibility of the registered user to maintain
the secrecy of his/her user id and password. If a registered user believes that
the security of his or her electronic identity has been compromised or that a
threat to the system exists, the registered user must intimate the Registry of
Madras High Court. 4.5. A litigant in person who subsequently engages
an Advocate, or a litigant who subsequently changes the Advocate, or a litigant
who subsequently chooses to appear as party in person, on being permitted by
the Court concerned, Wherever required, shall make an application before the
Administrator for transferring the data in respect of their Action suitably. 4.6. Once the Administrator receives the
application, the data in the Action shall be transferred in the user account of
the subsequent Advocate/litigant in person, as the case may be. Thereafter, the
previous advocate or the litigant in person, as the case may be, shall not be
permitted to modify the data of the subject Action. 4.7. A login ID will be allotted on the next working
day if the application is found complete in all respects. The procedure for
registration is set out in Appendix-II. The format and frame of pleadings
presented through online shall comply with the Applicable Laws and the Practice
Directions. 6.1. The PDF document shall be digitally signed
either by the parties and/or by their Advocate. 6.2 The digital signatures shall be appended on
such places on the PDF document as prescribed under the extant rules, 6.3 If neither the litigant nor the advocate who
has been engaged possess a digital signature, a print out of the Action shall
be physically signed by the party concerned and/or their advocate in accordance
with rules and it shall thereafter be scanned and uploaded. 6.4. A List of recognized Digital Signature
Providers and the procedure involved in appending single or multiple signatures
is set out in Appendix - IV. 6.5. A litigant in person or advocate who does not
possess a digital signature issued by the competent authority can authenticate
e-filed documents by e-Sign based on Aadhaar authentication. Court fee and other charges can
be paid electronically either by purchase on the on-line facility provided by
the authorised agency or from the Designated Counters provided for the purpose
in the High Court and District Courts or from any authorized court fee vendor.
The Transaction ID provided upon payment of court fee and other charges is
required to be entered in the appropriate field at the time of on-line
e-filing. 8.1. The original(s) of the signed vakalatnama,
notarized/attested affidavit and pleadings or any other document presented in
an action at the time of e-filing through online shall be filed in the Registry
of the court concerned as and when directed by the Registry. 8.2. In all cases, unless exempted, the originals of
the documents relied as evidence that are scanned and digitally signed by the
Advocate or the litigant in person, as the case may be, presented at the time
of e-filing, should be filed in the Registry at the earliest point of time,
preferably before the commencement of trial or hearing. 8.3. The Registry shall ensure the originals of the
signed pleadings/documents involved in an action are received for its safe
custody. Any destruction of the records so received and preserved shall be only
in accordance with the applicable rules for destruction. Access shall be available to a
registered user free of cost on due permission to access data e-filed by any of
the parties to the specific Action, as is presently being provided in pending
Actions. This facility shall be in addition to the procedure of obtaining
certified copies on payment of appropriate/prescribed charges. In any Action, exemption from
on-line e-filing of the entire pleading or a part of the pleadings and/or
documents may be permitted by the court concerned upon an application being
made for that purpose in the following circumstances: (i)
where on-line e-filing is not feasible for reasons set out in the
application; or (ii)
where there are concerns about confidentiality and protection of
privacy; or (iii)
where the document cannot be scanned or filed electronically
because of its size, shape or condition; or (iv)
where the on-line e-filing portal is either inaccessible or not
available for some reason: and/or (v)
for any other just and sufficient cause. In addition to the prescribed
modes of service, notices, documents, pleadings that are filed electronically
may also be served through the designated e-mail IDs of Registry officials to
the e-mail address of the advocates or parties, if available. E-mail IDs of
Registry officials will be published on the Court website to enable the
recipients to verify the source of the e-mail. 12.1.
Wherever limitation/time limits apply, it will be the responsibility of the
party concerned to ensure that the filing is carried out well before the
cut-off date and time. The date of e-filing will be taken as that date when the
Action is electronically received in the Registry within the prescribed time on
any working day. For computing the time at which e-filing is made, Indian
Standard Time (1ST) as in the Registry Portal will apply. 12.2. E-filing through Designated Counters will be
permissible up to 16.00 hours on any court working day. On-fine e-filing
carried out after midnight, i.e. 24.00 hours of the day, will be treated as the
date which follows the actual filing date provided it is a court working day.
Actions filed on a day declared as gazetted holiday or on a day when the court
is closed, will be regarded as having been filed on the next working day. For
the computation of limitation, on-line e-filing shall be subject to the same
legal regime as applicable to physical filing, save and except as provided
herein above. 12.3. The
facility for on-line e-filing through the web portal shall be available during
all twenty four hours of each day. subject to breakdown, server downtime,
system maintenance or such other exigencies. Where on-line e-filing is not
possible for any of the reasons set out above, parties can either approach the
Designated Counters for e-filing during court hours on working days or take
recourse to physical filing along with soft copies in CD or pen drive. 12.4.
Provisions for limitation governing on-line e-filing will be the same as those
applicable to physical filing. The period of limitation for such actions shall
commence from the date when e-filing is made as per the procedure prescribed in
these Rules. All caveats can be filed
on-line. The procedure for this purpose is set out in Appendix -VI. Advocates, as well as parties,
may print hard copies of all pleadings and documents filed electronically for
their use in the court or elsewhere. The Registry shall, wherever required,
prepare hard copies for official use. E-filings shall be stored on an
exclusive server maintained under the control and directions of the Court. Each
such filing shall be separately labelled and encrypted to facilitate easy
identification and retrieval. The security of such filings shall be ensured.
Access to e-filings would be restricted in the manner provided herein above and
as may be notified from time to time. For continuity of operations in case of
disaster, natural calamity or breakdown, a mirror image of e-f lings available
on the servers located in the Court may be maintained at different geographical
locations, as decided from time to time by the Court. For the purpose of implementing
these Rules (i)
The Chief Justice shall have the power to notify the charges
payable for the facilities provided through designated counters. (ii)
The Chief Justice shall have the power to include or exclude any
place or premises as Designated Counters. (iii)
The Chief Justice shall have the power to issue any additional
directions apart from Practice Directions for effective implementation of these
Rules which shall be and in consistent with the principle of furthering the
interests of justice. The High Court may. if satisfied
that the operation of any Rule is causing undue hardship, by an order dispense
with or relax the requirements of that Rule to such extent and subject to such
conditions, as may be stipulated, to deal with the case in a just and equitable
manner. 18.1. All
Rules, circulars, administrative orders (ROC) and guidelines in the nature of
directions governing the e-filing procedure so far, shall stand repealed with
effect from the date of coming into force of these Rules in Tamil Nadu and the
Union Territory of Puducherry, respectively. 18.2.
Such repeal shall not affect the validity of actions commenced and completed
under the repealed rules or pending as on the date of coming into force of
these Rules, Such pending actions shall be deemed to have been undertaken under
these Rules and may be proceeded with on that basis. 18.3.
These Rules are for the purpose of e-filing procedures and shall not be read in
derogation of any provision, rule, expression and definition in other
Statutes/Rules and shall be read as supplemental to the same. Practice Directions: I.
Registration Procedure: Advocates and Litigants in person
who seek to register as a Registered User in the e-filing Portal shall comply
with the following procedures. (i)
Advocates (a)
Should visit the web portal (https://efiling.ecourts.gov.in/tn/)
to view the form. (b)
Click the registration link. (c)
Fill the form with requisite details. (d)
Submit the filled-up form along with a self-attested copy of The
Bar Council Registration Certificate or Bar Council ID-card (in PDF format
only). (ii)
Litigants in person (a)
Should visit the web portal Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.)
to view the form. (b)
Click the registration link. (c)
Fill the form with requisite details. (d)
Submit the filled-up form along with the self-attested copy of any
identity document issued by the Government (in PDF format only). II.
Formatting (i)
All the e-Filings in relation to an action shall conform to the
following requirements: ·
Paper size : A-4 ·
Top Margin : 1.5" ·
Bottom Margin : 1.5" ·
Left Margin : 1.75" ·
Right Margin : 1.0" ·
Alignment : Justified ·
Font : Times New Roman ·
Font size : 14 ·
Line spacing : 1.5 ·
If any document is typed in a local language in Trial Courts, it
must be in prepared using Tamil Unicode Marutham Font 14 (Font available at
http ://www. tamilvu.org/tkbd/index.htm.) (ii)
The document should be converted into Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) searchable Portable Document Format (PDF) or PDF/A using any
PDF converter or inbuilt PDF conversion plug-in provided in the software. PDF/A
is the preferred format. (iii)
A document which is not a text document and has to be enclosed
with the Action, should be scanned using an image resolution of 300 DPI (Dots
per inch) in OCR searchable mode and saved as a PDF document. The procedure for
converting a document into an OCR searchable PDF as mentioned above and as
required in clause 8.1 is set out in Appendix III. (iv)
The text documents and scanned documents set out in clauses stated
above and the PDF documents referred in Rule 6.1 should be merged as a single
OCR searchable PDF file and should be book-marked as per the Master Index, duly
approved by the Registry. The procedure in this behalf is set out in Appendix
-V. (v)
The merged documents should be uploaded at the time of on-line
e-filling. Screenshots of the manner of accessing the on-line e-filing portal
and for e-Filings in relation to an Action are set out in Appendix-1. (vi)
Once e-filing is accepted, a time stamped automated filing or
registration number shall be generated and notified to the Registered User, (vii)
In case on-tine e-filing includes audio and/or video files, the
Administrator shall generate a hash value. (viii) Special
Characters are not allowed while e-filing Memo of Parties and Advocate remarks. (ix)
Document Binary File Name Standards The following special characters
are not allowed in a file name: A
quotation mark (") A number
sign/Pound (#) Per cent
(%)
Ampersand (&) Asterisk
(*) Colon
(:) Angle
brackets (less than, greater than) (<>) A
question mark (?)
Backslash () Forward
stash (/) Braces
(left and right) ({}) Pipe (|) A tilde
(-) The period (.) character used
consecutively in the middle of the file name or at the beginning or end of the
file name. (x)
No File name should exceed 45 characters in length, including
spaces. Single space must be counted as one character each. (xi)
On-line e-filing shall not be watermarked or encrypted. The
e-filed documents shall not contain any virus, malware, spam-ware, trojan horse
or the like. All the e-filed documents shall be legible and free of markings,
track changes or annotations, (xii)
The e-filing made by an Advocate/litigant in person will be
rejected if they do not follow the prool mandated by these Rules or practice
directions. (xiii) Subject
to such further directions as may be issued, it would not be obligatory on the
part of the opposite party to accept pleadings and documents by email. In such
an eventuality, hard copies of pleadings and documents will have to be provided
to the opposite party. In such circumstances, the Original Party can be called
upon to deposit the charges calculated on the basis of the number of pages per
Opposite Party which are required to be phoopied. This facility will be
provided by the Registry on a written request being made by the Opposite Party. (xiv)
The Registry will communicate the objections, if any, regarding
the cases filed by email/SMS/web hosting to the concerned Advocate/litigant in
person. After the objections are cleared the case will be processed for listing
and the Advocate/litigant in person will be informed including by email/SMS. (xv)
Any communication transmitted by email can be intercepted or read
by a third party. An Advocate or litigant in person seeking to transmit
confidential or sensitive document/material, shall approach the Registry for
requisite assistance/advice.MADRAS HIGH COURT E-FILING RULES, 2020
PREAMBLE