The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (June 2, 2021) made it clear that all District Courts in Delhi will accept e-filing of caveats as long as the e-filing portal of the District Courts is functional.
The order was passed by Justice Rekha Palli in a plea with a grievance that the e-filing portal of the Delhi District Courts is not permitting electronic filing of Caveats.
Counsel for the respondent submitted that the petitioners contention was false because the e-filing portals of all District Courts were accepting the filing of Caveats through electronic mode and will continue to do so.
In response, the counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Nitin Jain, brought to the notice of the Court a screenshot of the objections raised by the Registry to the petitioners attempt to file the Caveat online.
The screenshot showed that the petitioners Caveat Application had been marked as Not Approved/Disapproved on the ground that a Caveat Application cannot be filed electronically through an online portal and had to be physically filed in a filing counter.
As the second wave of Covid-19 raged the country, many courts across the country including the High Court of Delhi had permitted e-filing of cases, pleadings, applications, documents, etc. until the courts resume physical functioning.
The plea emphasized the decision given in Nitya Sharma v. National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in which the Delhi High Court directed NCLAT to dispense with the requirement of submitting hard copies of documents and facilitate e-filings.
The Court was pleased to note the undertaking of the Respondent which assured that the electronic filing of Caveats is and will continue to be allowed through the web portals and that no such inconvenience would be caused to any litigant or counsel in the future.
Justice Rekha Palli before disposing of the petition noted that the right to file Caveat is a statutory right available to every litigant under Section 148(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure and directed the District and Session Judge Headquarters to ensure that in the future no litigant or counsel will have to face an inconvenience on this ground.