The Delhi High Court was informed on Friday by its administrative side that the issue of using both sides of A4 sheets for judicial work has been cleared by the Rules Committee and requires approval from the full court.
Legal-size papers — which are longer — are normally used for filing purposes.
The counsel representing the registrar general of the high court said the Rules Committee has already resolved the use of A4 size papers and printing on both sides for filing and judicial work.
The counsel sought 10 days for a final decision in the matter as the minutes are to be approved by the full court.
A bench of Chief Justice S C Sharma and Justice S Prasad granted time to the administrative side of the high court and listed the matter for further hearing on October 10.
The high court was hearing a plea by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which claims to be a think tank registered under the Indian Trusts Act, contending that using both sides of A4 sheets would not only protect the environment but also reduce the requirement for paper and take up less space for storage. The CASC, represented through advocate Virag Gupta, has said that by switching to A4 sheets the high court would save around 6.7 lakh sheets of paper which in turn would save around 80 trees and 67 lakh litres of water per month.
”If the usage of double-sided pages is expanded to Delhi District Courts, it would cause savings of 72.53 lakh pages, which in turn will save 870 trees and 7.25 crore litres of water in one month alone,” the petition said.
”Moreover, the litigants face multiple issues in obtaining legal sized paper, which is not freely available as A4 paper. Thus, standardising paper size to A4 before the courts will be in furtherance to providing access to justice,” it said.
The counsel had earlier said that the Supreme Court and various high courts in the country have resolved to use double-sided sheets.
