The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has taken serious judicial notice of the “highly unhygienic situation” created by the use of saliva to turn pages of court documents, calling the practice “disgusting and condemnable” and a reflection of a “lack of basic civic sense.”
Before proceeding with the merits of a case, Justice Shree Prakash Singh dedicated the opening paragraphs of his order to address the issue, observing that it posed a risk of infection and was “not tolerable at any cost.”
Court’s Observations
The order began with a pointed observation from the Court, stating, “Prior to deal with this matter, this Court has observed since morning that in more than ten petitions/ applications, reddish colour saliva is used for turning over the pages of the paper book, before placing it to this Court.”
The Court noted the possibility that this practice was occurring at various levels, including “the stage of filing of paper book/petitions/ applications, either by the Clerk, Oath Commissioner or the Officers/ Officials, who are dealing with the matter in the Registry and in the Office of G.A. and C.S.C.”
Expressing deep concern, Justice Singh remarked, “The anxiety of this Court that if such kind of filthy practice is not restrained, the same will create cause of any sorts of infection to the persons, who would come into the contact with such papers, therefore, this is not tolerable at any cost.”
Directions Issued by the Court
To curb this practice, the Court issued specific and firm directions to the administrative side of the High Court and government law officers.
The judgment directs, “To prevent such practice, the Senior Registrar and the In-charge Registry including the Officials deployed therewith are directed to ensure that while filing the paper book/ petitions/ applications, this shall be carefully examined and ensured that no paper having such SALIVA SPOT of any kind be entertained or accepted by the Registry.”
Furthermore, the Court extended the directive to the offices of the state’s top lawyers: “The Government Advocate and Chief Standing Counsel are also directed to ensure the above said direction, while issuing written directions for restraining such practice, at their Office.”
