NEWS ARTICLE- Covered by Abhishek Bhushan Singh and Edited by Koninika Bhattacharjee
Esteemed advocates Satyam Singh, Prashant K. Shukla and Shivam Singh, practising in the High Court of Allahabad, wrote a letter to its Chief Justice on 28th May, 2020. The said letter urges for a simplification in the standard operating procedure for e-filing of fresh urgent matters.
This move was opted in the lieu of difficulties faced by the advocates and litigants of Allahabad High Court, while filing urgent matters in a virtual model. As advocate Satyam Singh ardently highlighted, a mandatory use of Aadhar Card (linked to one’s phone number), along with the electronic signature of advocates, proved to be an adventurous task when filing affidavits or cases.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, most of the lawyers are facing hardships in obtaining and getting access to electronic signatures. At such times, any feasible alternative like scanned signatures (as prevalent in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court) can come to the rescue at the plight of lawyering in Allahabad.