The full court of the Karnataka High Court had on August 22, 2019 passed a resolution proposing amendment to the court’s rule of allowing use of A4 size paper for all proceedings instead of the existing use of foolscap or legal size paper.
However, this proposal is awaiting approval and issuance of a formal notification by the government for its implementation.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty noted these aspects while disposing of a PIL petition filed by a group of law students, who in their petition filed in August 2020 sought a direction to the court’s registry to amend Rule 2 of Chapter XII of the High Court of Karnataka Rules, 1959 to allow use of A4 size paper.
Meanwhile, the bench directed the High Court’s Registrar-General, who had submitted a report on the full court’s proposal to amend rules, to place before the concerned committee of the High Court the plea made by petitioner’s counsel for issuing administrative orders to all the district and taluk courts in the State for using A4 size papers.
The petitioners have been campaigning for uniform use of the widely available A4 paper in all the courts across the country. The Supreme Court and three High Courts have issued notifications doing away with the British-era practice of using foolscap paper.