(१)

भाग चार-क-७९–१

RNI No. MAHBIL /2009/35527

महाराष्टट्रõ शासन राजपत्र

असाधारण भाग चार-क

वर््ष ८, अंक ५३]

गुरुवार, नोव््हेंबर १७, २०२२/कार््ततिक २६, शके १९४४

[पृष््ठठे ५९, किंमतत : रुपये ९.००

असाधारण क्रमांक ७९

प्राधिकृतत प्रकाशन

महाराष्टट्र शासनाव््यतिरिक््त इततर वैधानिक प्राधिकाऱ््ययाांांनी ततयार केलेले

(भाग एक, एक-अ व एक-ल यांमध्ये प्रसिद्ध केलेले वैधानिक नियम व आदेश यांव््यतिरिक््त इततर)

वैधानिक नियम व आदेश; यातत भारतत सरकार, उच्च न्यायालय, पोलीस आयुक््त, आयुक््त (राज्य उत्पादन शुल्क),

जिल्हादंडाधिकारी व निवडणूक आयोग, निवडणूक न्यायाधिकरण, निवडणूक निर््णय अधिकारी व निवडणूक आयोगाखालील

इततर प्राधिकारी यांनी ततयार केलेले वैधानिक नियम व आदेश यांचा समावेश होततो.

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

APPELLATE SIDE

NOTIFICATION

No. Rule/P. 1603/2022.—The Hon’ble the Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of

Judicature at Bombay in exercise of powers conferred under Article 225 and 227 of the Constitution

of India and all other enabling provisions in that behalf are pleased to make the following rules

which shall be applicable to the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, its Benches at Nagpur and

Aurangabad and High Court of Bombay at Goa, and the District Courts and Tribunals under the

control and supervision of the High Court of Bombay.

Short Title, Applicability and Commencement :

These Rules shall be called “e-Filing Rules of the High Court of Bombay 2022”. They shall apply

to the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, its Benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad and High Court

of Bombay at Goa, and the District Courts and Tribunals under the control and supervision of the

High Court of Bombay.

These Rules shall come into force from the date of Notification.

1. Preface

These Rules shall apply to on-line e-filing and e-filing through Designated Counters and facilities

provided for e-filing, including e-Seva Kendras. The rules shall apply to such categories of cases

महाराष्टट्र शासन राजपत्र असाधारण भाग चार-क, नोव््हेंबर १७, २०२२/कार््ततिक २६, शके १९४४

as would be notified by the High Court. These Rules amend and consolidate the existing Rules and

Practice Directions.

2. Definitions

2.1 Action : includes all proceedings instituted in the Court such as suits, criminal complaints,

appeals, civil or criminal writ petitions, revision petitions, contempt petitions, execution petitions,

arbitration petitions, probate cases and interlocutory applications.

2.2 Administrator : means the Registrar (IT) or an officer appointed by the Chief Justice for

administering and dealing with matters connected with or relating to e-filing.

2.3. Bench : means and includes one or more Judges assigned to adjudicate upon Actions or

the presiding officer of the Court or Tribunal as the case may be.

2.4 Physical Filing : means Actions and pleadings filed as hard copies.

2.5 Designated Counters : means and includes those counters which find mention in

Appendix-I and those that may be included or excluded from Appendix-I from time to time.

2.6 District Courts : means and includes the courts established and functioning under the

control and supervision of the High Court.

2.7 Electronic Filing (e-filing) : means e-filing as prescribed through the Internet (at the web

portal of the Court) and through the internet/intranet at Designated Counters, unless the context

requires otherwise.

2.8 Evidence : means and includes evidence as defined under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

2.9 High Court : High Court means the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, its Benches at

Nagpur and Aurangabad and High Court of Bombay at Goa, Panaji-Goa.

2.10 Objections : means and includes deficiencies and errors pointed out by the Registry in

relation to the Actions instituted in the Court.

2.11 Opposite Party : means defendant(s), respondents, judgment debtor(s) and non

applicant(s).

2.12 Party : means appellant(s), plaintiff(s), petitioner(s), complainant(s) and applicant(s).

2.13 Pleadings : means pleadings filed in support or defence of an Action including affidavits,

additional affidavits and supplementary affidavits.

2.14 PDF : means an electronic document filed in a portable document format.

2.15 PDF/A : means an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF)

specialized for the digital preservation of electronic documents.

2.16 Registry : means the Registry of the Court.

2.17 Statement of Defence : means and includes written statements, replies, counter-

affidavits and additional or supplementary affidavits.

2.18 Technical failure : means a failure of the court’s hardware, software, and/or

telecommunications facility which results in the impossibility of submitting a file electronically.

Technical failure does not include malfunctioning of the equipment of the person submitting an e-file.

2.19 Third Party : means and includes any person or entity seeking to become a party or to

intervene in an Action.

2.20 Working Day : means and includes a day when the Registry of the Court is working under

the Calendar published or as directed by the Court.

2.21 Tribunal : means and includes all Tribunals under the control and supervision of the

High Court.

3. General Instructions

3.1 On-line e-filing shall be made by visiting the prevailing web portal of the Court for the

purpose of e-filing.

3.2 Except as provided in these Rules, Actions, whether in fresh, pending or disposed of cases,

will be filed electronically by an advocate or litigant in person from their home, office or other remote

location in the manner provided in these Rules.

3.3 Any person who is unable to access the e-filing portal would be entitled to make use of the

facilities provided at the Designated Counters for that purpose upon payment of charges if stipulated.

3.4 Maximum size of the file shall be specified and revised from time to time by issuing practice

directions.

4. Steps for Registration

4.1 Persons other than Advocates and litigants in person who are already registered on the

Court web portal will take the following steps to register themselves.

(i) Advocates

(a) Should visit the prevailing web portal to view the form.

(i) For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.ecourts.gov.in/)

(ii) For E-filing portal version 3.0 (https://filing.ecourts.gov.in/pdedev)

(b) Click the registration link.

(d) Submit the filled-up form along with a self-attested copy of the Bar Council Registration

Certificate or Bar Council I-card (in PDF format only).

(ii) Litigants in person

(a) Should visit the prevailing web portal to view the form.

(i) For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.ecourts.gov.in/)

(ii) For E-filing portal version 3.0 (https://filing.ecourts.gov.in/pdedev)

(b) Click the registration link.

(d) Submit the filled-up form along with the self-attested copy of any identity document issued

by the Government (in PDF format only).

4.2 Litigants-in-person shall submit an affidavit/undertaking that they have not engaged

an Advocate in the Action. A litigant in person who subsequently engages an Advocate, shall make

an application before the Administrator for transferring the data in respect of the Action to the

Advocate’s account in. Once the Administrator allows the application, the data in the Action shall

be transferred in the user account of the Advocate. The litigant in person will not be in a position to

modify the data of the subject Action, without the permission of the Administrator.

4.3 A login ID will be allotted on the next working day if the application is found complete in

all respects. The procedure for registration is set out in the prevailing e-filing web portal as per

Appendix-II.

5. Frame of Pleadings

The pleadings should be clear and concise. Parties and third parties should set forth their claims/

averments in separate paragraphs. The statement of truth/ affidavit of the concerned person must

bear their signature. Opposite parties should also file their replies under sequentially numbered

paragraphs and headings (such as Preliminary Objections and Objections on Merits).

भाग चार-क-७९–१अ

Wherever verification and attestation under oath is done before Notary Public, the scanned page

shall be uploaded keeping the original in custody.

Citations shall not form part of the pleadings or annexure, unless citation is relevant subject

matter of the lis. Citations shall be separately filed as and when necessary.

Scrutiny and compliance with objections in any pleading e-filing shall only be by online mode

only. If interaction is inevitable in such cases virtual counters with video linkage facility shall be

used as and when activated.

6. Formatting

6.1 All the original typed text material including notice of motion, memorandum of parties,

main petition or appeal, interlocutory application(s), reply, status report, affidavit, documents, will

be prepared electronically using the following formatting:

Style:

Paper size: A-4

Top Margin: 1.5”

Bottom Margin: 1.5”

Left Margin: 1.75”

Right Margin: 1.0”

Alignment: Justified

Font: Times New Roman

Font size: 14

Line spacing: 1.5

If any document is typed in a local language in Trial Courts, it must be prepared using xxx

Unicode Font 14

The High Court may issue notification / circular / Practice note defining sequence and chronology

of documents and manner of pagination, manner of filing amendment for e-filing purposes for District

Court and High Court.

6.2 The document should be converted into Optical Character Recognition (OCR) searchable

Portable Document Format (PDF) or PDF/A using any PDF converter or in- built PDF conversion

plug-in provided in the software. PDF/A is the preferred format.

6.3 A document which is not a text document and has to be enclosed with the Action, should be

scanned using an image resolution of 300 DPI (Dots per inch) in OCR searchable mode and saved as a

PDF document. The procedure for converting a document into an OCR searchable PDF as mentioned

above and as required in clause 8.1 is set out in Appendix – III.

7. Digital Signatures

7.1 The PDF document shall be digitally signed either by the parties and/or by their Advocate.

The digital signatures shall be appended on such places on the PDF document as prescribed under the

extant rules. If neither the party nor the Advocate who has been engaged possess a digital signature,

a print out of the Action shall be physically signed by the party concerned and/or their Advocate in

accordance with rules and it shall thereafter be scanned and uploaded.

7.2 A List of recognized Digital Signature Providers and the procedure involved in appending

single or multiple signatures is set out in Appendix – IV.

7.3 A litigant in person or advocate who does not possess a digital signature issued by the

competent authority can authenticate e-filed documents by e-Sign based on Aadhaar authentication.

8. Dos and Don’t’s

8.1 The text documents and scanned documents set out in clauses 6.3 and 7.1 should be merged

as a single OCR searchable PDF file and should be book-marked as per the Master Index, duly

approved by the Registry. The procedure in this behalf is set out in Appendix -V.

8.2 The merged documents should be uploaded at the time of on-line e-filing. Screenshots of

the manner of accessing the on-line e-filing portal and for the filing of the main case and documents

including written statements, replies, replications, rejoinders, affidavits and evidence in a pending

case are set out in Appendix-I.

8.3 Once e-filing is accepted, the filing or registration number shall be notified to the Advocate

or litigant in person.

8.4 In so far as evidence in the form of an electronic record, such as audio and/or video files,

which are to be filed in the High Court as set out in APPENDIX –VII shall be followed. As and

when this facility is made available for District Courts, the procedure to be followed will be notified

by the Administrator.

8.5 Special Characters are not allowed while e-filing Memo of Parties and Advocate remarks.

8.6 Document Binary File Name Standards

The following special characters are not allowed in a file name:

• A quotation mark (“)

• A number sign/Pound (#)

• Per cent (%)

• Ampersand (&)

• Asterisk (*)

• Colon (:)

• Angle brackets (less than, greater than) (<>)

• A question mark (?)

• Backslash (\)

• Forward slash (/)

• Braces (left and right) ({ })

• Pipe (|)

• A tilde (~)

• The period (.) character used consecutively in the middle of the file name or at the

beginning or end of the file name.

File names should not exceed 45 characters in length, including spaces. Single space must be

counted as one character each.

8.7 On-line e-filing shall not be watermarked or encrypted. The e-filed documents shall not

contain any virus, malware, spam-ware, trojan horse or the like. All the e-filed documents shall be

legible and free of markings, track changes or annotations.

8.8 As far as possible the PDF file may be flattened free of embedded images, videos, GIF, PDF

form fields and Java script elements.

9. Payment of Court Fees/Other Charges

Court fee and other charges can be paid either electronically by purchase on the on-line facility

provided by the authorised agency or from the Designated Counters provided for the purpose

in the High Court and District Courts or from any authorized court fee vendor. The Transaction ID

provided upon payment of court fee and other charges is required to be entered in the appropriate

field at the time of on-line e-filing.

10. Retention of Originals

10.1 Originals of the documents, certified copies that are scanned and digitally signed by the

Registrant(s) at the time of e-filing should be preserved for production or inspection as may be required

by a Registrant, Registry or Bench for verification or removal of doubts.

10.2 The registry may make use of virtual counters with video linkage for quick verification

any scanned or typed document e-filed cases.

10.3 The signed vakalatnama, signed and notarized/attested affidavit and any other document

whose authenticity is likely to be questioned should be preserved, at least, for two years till after

the final disposal of the Action. Final disposal shall include disposal of the Action by the superior

appellate court.

10.4 Notwithstanding anything above, the following documents will have to be preserved

permanently :—

(a) A Negotiable Instrument (other than a cheque) as defined in Section 13 of The

Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881).

(b) A Power-of-Attorney as defined in section 1A of the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882 (7 of

1882).

(d) A Will as defined in Clause (h) of Section 2 of The Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of

1925) including any other testamentary disposition by whatever name called.

(e) Any contract for the sale or conveyance of immovable property or any interest in such

property.

(f) Any other document as may be directed by the Bench.

10.5 The responsibility of producing the originals and proving their genuineness shall be of the

party that has electronically filed scanned copies of the document.

11. Access to the Electronic Data of the Action

Free of cost access will be available to authorized person(s) to data e-filed by any of the parties

to the specific Action, as is presently being provided in pending Actions. This facility shall be in

addition to the procedure of obtaining certified copies.

12. Exemption from e-filing

Exemption from on-line e-filing of the entire pleading or a part of the pleadings and/or documents

may be permitted by the Bench upon an application being made for that purpose in the following

circumstances :

(i)

where on-line e-filing is for reasons set out in the application not feasible; or

(ii) where there are concerns about confidentiality and protection of privacy; or

(iii) where the document cannot be scanned or filed electronically because of its size, shape

or condition; or

(iv) where the on-line e-filing portal is either inaccessible or not available for some reason;

and/or

(v) for a just and sufficient cause.

13. Service of Electronic Documents

In addition to the prescribed mode of service, notices, documents, pleadings that are filed

electronically may also be served through the designated e-mail IDs of Registry officials to the e-mail

address of the advocates or parties, if available. E-mail IDs of Registry officials will be published on

the Court website to enable the recipients to verify the source of the e-mail.

In all cases if the respondent is not registered in CIS and no email ID is disclosed, a party

cannot be compelled to accept service in digitised form. In such case, the Registrant shall serve the

respondent with physical copies of the pleadings in addition to offering a soft copy.

The registry may send soft copies of petition from the dedicated mail address along with copy of

notice/writ to the Court below with verification mechanism to ensure integrity of the dispatched soft

copies. If required, soft copies shall be printed at Court effecting service whereupon addressee court

shall affix its seal on the notice/writ so received and shall serve copies on the respondents/noticees.

Copy of report of service shall be uploaded as reply to the e-mail forwarding notices/writs which,

unless required, shall be treated as sufficient proof of service without requirement of physically

signed hard copy of report of service.

14. Computation of Time

14.1 Wherever limitation/time limits apply, it will be the responsibility of the party concerned

to ensure that the filing is carried out well before the cut-off date and time. The date of e-filing will

be taken as that date when the Action is electronically received in the Registry within the prescribed

time on any working day. For computing the time at which e-filing is made, Indian Standard Time

(IST) will apply.

14.2 E-filing through Designated Counters will be permissible up to 16.00 hours on any court

working day. On-line e-filing carried out after working hours on any day, will be treated as the date

which follows the actual filing date provided it is a court working day. Actions filed on a day declared

as gazetted holiday or on a day when the court is closed, will be regarded as having been filed on

the next working day. For the computation of limitation, on-line e-filing shall be subject to the same

legal regime as applicable to physical filing, save and except as provided herein above.

14.3 The facility for on-line e-filing through the web portal shall be available during all twenty-

four hours of each day, subject to breakdown, server downtime, system maintenance or such other

exigencies. Where on-line e-filing is not possible for any of the reasons set out above, parties can

either approach the Designated Counters for e-filing during working hours on court working days

or take recourse to physical filing. No exemption from limitation shall be permitted on the ground

of a failure of the web based on-line e-filing facility.

14.4 Provisions for limitation governing on-line e-filing will be the same as those applicable to

physical filing. The period of limitation for such actions will commence from the date when e-filing

is made as per the procedure prescribed in these Rules.

15. Procedure for Filing Caveat

All caveats can be filed on-line. The procedure for this purpose is set out in Appendix-VI.

16. Hard Copies of Pleadings and Documents filed Electronically

Advocates, as well as parties, may print hard copies of all pleadings and documents filed

electronically for their use in the court or elsewhere. The Registry will wherever required prepare

hard copies for official use.

17. These Rules are not in derogation to the provisions of any substantive or procedural law applicable

for disposal of proceedings by the courts.

18. Storage and Retrieval of e-Filed Documents and Pleadings

E-filings will be stored on an exclusive server maintained under the control and directions of the

Court. Each such filing will be separately labelled and encrypted for facilitate easy identification and

retrieval. The security of such filings will be ensured. Access to e-filings would be restricted in the

manner provided herein above and as may be notified from time to time. For continuity of operations

in case of disaster, natural calamity or breakdown, a mirror image of e-filings available on the servers

located in the Court may be maintained at different geographical locations, as decided from time to

time by the High Court /e-Committee.

Provided for marking electronic records as exhibits in the course of the trial, the protocol set

out in Appendix VIII shall be followed qua the Actions instituted in the High Court. As regards

the District Court, as and when the application is made available, the relevant procedure to be

followed shall be notified by the Administrator. However, the mere assigning of a unique number to

the electronic record will not amount to the authentication or proof of such electronic record. Nothing

in these rules shall be construed as dispensing with the proof of the electronic record as required

under the law.

19.1 Residuary provisions

19.1 The e-filing made by an Advocate/litigant in person will be rejected if they do not follow

the protocol mandated by these Rules or practice directions.

19.2 Subject to such further directions as may be issued, it would not be obligatory on the part

of the opposite party to accept pleadings and documents by email. In such an eventuality, hard copies

of pleadings and documents will have to be provided to the opposite party. In such circumstances, the

plaintiff/ petitioner can be called upon to deposit the charges calculated on the basis of the number of

pages per defendant/respondent which are required to be photocopied. This facility will be provided

by the Registry on a written request being made by the defendant(s)/respondent(s).

19.3 The Registry will communicate the objections, if any, regarding the cases filed by email/

SMS/web hosting to the concerned Advocate / litigant in person. After the objections are cleared

the case will be processed for listing and the Advocate/litigant in person will be informed including

by email/SMS.

20. General Caution

Email is not a secure medium of communication. Any communication transmitted by email can be

intercepted or read by a third party. An Advocate or litigant in person seeking to transmit confidential

or sensitive document/material, shall approach the Registry for requisite assistance/advice.

21. The Chief Justice may issue practice directions as warranted from time to time in respect of

the Rules.

Appendices

APPENDIX – I

Screenshots showing the procedure for accessing the on-line

portal, electronic filing of documents and list of Designated

Counters.

APPENDIX – II

Screenshots showing the procedure for registration.

APPENDIX – III

Screenshots showing the procedure for converting a

document into an OCR searchable PDF.

APPENDIX – IV

Screenshots showing the procedure for appending single or

multiple digital signatures.

APPENDIX – V

Screenshots showing the procedure for book-marking.

APPENDIX – VI

Screenshots showing the procedure for filing Caveat.

APPENDIX – VII

Procedure for filing of all evidence in the form of an

electronic record, such as audio and/or video files, etc.

APPENDIX – VIII

Protocol for marking of electronic records as exhibits in the

course of trial.

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE )

AT BOMBAY

)

) R. N. JOSHI,

DATE : 15th NOVEMBER 2022

) REGISTRAR GENERAL.

भाग चार-क-७९–२

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX – I

For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.

ecourts.gov.in/) (Applicable to High court at Bombay and

its benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Bombay High

Court atGoa and District Courts and Taluka Courts at

Diu,Daman, Silvasa)

Screenshots showing the procedure for accessing the online portal,

electronic filing of documents and list of Designated Counters.

1 : Accessing the Online Portal

• Visit https://efiling.ecourts.gov.in/ to access efiling portal.

• Select the State from the dropdown list or from the

interactive map of India.

• The login window as shown in the following picture will appear. Enter

the User ID and Password.

• For Registration of new Advocate or Party in Person, click on

“Register”

• After logging in to efiling portal, the Dashboard of the

Advocate appears as shown the following picture.

भाग चार-क-७९–२अ

2. Filing Miscellaneous Documents through e-filing

Select Misc. Docs option

Select Bench

Enter Case in which documents

are to be filed

Verify Correctness of Case

Select party for whom documents

are being filed.

Select signing party, if multiple

Upload documents

Give title to uploaded document

Index the uploaded document

10. Select mode, department and

party for payment of court fee

11. Share copy of document to other

Advocates, if desired

12. Digitally Sign the Verification

भाग चार-क-७९–३

13. Upload and verify signing with

own Digital signature.

14. Final Submit

3. FILING NEW CASE

On the dashboard click on efile>>click on

New Case>>

Enter information in below mentioned tab and follow

similar procedure to index documents, payment of

court fees, digital signatures and final submit.

Do not forget to enter names and addresses of all the parties.

Do not forget to enter details of the Court and case

number in which orders are challenged.

Do not forget to enter details of Acts and Section.

Do not forget to enter details of Police Station, FIR number

etc.

भाग चार-क-७९–३अ

III : List of Designated Counters (eSewa Kendra)

Sr.

No.

District

Name of Court Complex

NAGPUR

High Court of Judicature at Bombay

Nagpur Bench, Nagpur.

AURANGABAD

High Court of Judicature at Bombay Aurang

abad Bench, Aurangabad.

AHMEDNAGAR

District & Sessions Court, New Court Build

ing, Behind S.P. Office, Near Nyaya Nagar,

Ahmednagar - 414 001

AKOLA

District and Sessions Court, Railway Sta

tion Road, Ramdaspeth, Akola- 444 001

AMRAVATI

District & Sessions Court, Camp,

Amravati - 444 602

AURANGABAD

District & Sessions Court, New District

Court Building, Adalat Road,

Aurangabad - 431 005

BEED

District and Sessions Court, Nagar Road,

Beed – 431122

BHANDARA

District & Sessions Court, District Court

Building, National Highway 6, Civil lines,

Bhandara Tah. District Bhandara – 441904

BULDHANA

District & Session Court, Buldhana- 443001

CHANDRAPUR

District & Session Court, Nyayamandir

Building, Opp. Bus Stand, Chandrapur -

442 401

MUMBAI

CMM Court,Esplanade Court, Mahapalika

Marg, Mumbai - 400 001

DAMAN

District & Sessions Court, Moti Daman,

Daman - 396 220.

DHULE

District & Sessions Court, Dhule - 424 001

DIU

District & Sessions Court, Diu - 362 520.

GADCHIROLI

District & Sessions Court, Gadchiroli -

442 605

GONDIA

District Judge -1, Civil Lines, Gondia –

441601

JALGAON

District and Sessions Court, Jalgaon –

425001

JALNA

Principal District & Sessions Judge, Chief Ju

dicial Magistrate Court & Civil Judge, Senior

Division, Survey No - 488, Ambad Ring Road,

Jalna - 431 203

KOLHAPUR

District & Sessions Court, Gate No.4, Cen

tral Building, Kasaba Bavada, Kolhapur -

416 006

LATUR

District & Sessions Court, “Nyaya Nagari”,

Main Road, Latur - 413 512

MUMBAI

City Civil & Sessions Court, Old Secre

tariat Building, Mumbai – 400032

MUMBAI

Small Causes Court, L.T. Road, Dhobi Ta

lao, Mumbai – 400002

NAGPUR

District & Sessions Court, Akashwani

Chowk, Nagpur – 440001

NANDED

District and Sessions Court, Station

Road, Nanded - 431 601

NANDURBAR

District Judge - 1, District Court, Nandur

bar - 425 412

NASHIK

District & Sessions Court, Near Central

(Old)

S.T. Stand, Old Agra Road, Nashik - 422 001

NORTH GOA

District and Sessions Courts Complex, Ly

ceum Complex, Altinho, Panaji, Goa. 403 001

OSMANABAD

District and Sessions Court, Solapur Aurang

abad Road, Infront of Municipal Council,

Osmanabad

- 413 501

PARBHANI

District Court (New Complex) & CJSD, CJM

Court (Old Complex), Near Railway Station,

Parbhani – 431401

PUNE

District & Sessions Court, Shivajinagar,

Pune - 411 005

RAIGAD

District & Sessions Court, Raigad - Alibag -

402 201

RATNAGIRI

District & Sessions Court, Khareghat

Road, Ratnagiri – 415612

SANGLI

District & Sessions Court, Vijay Nagar, San

gli - 416 416

SATARA

District Court, Satara (New Court Building),

Satara - Koregaon Road, 515 Sadar Bazar,

Camp, Satara - 415 001

SILVASSA

District & Sessions Court, DNH, Silvassa

- 396 230.

SINDHUDURG

District and Sessions Court, Sindhudurg

at Oros, Tal. Kudal, Dist. Sindhudurg, Pin

416812

SOLAPUR

District & Sessions Court, Near Rangbha

van Chowk, Solapur - 413 003

SOUTH GOA

District & Sessions Court Complex, Old Mar

ket, Margao, Goa – 403601

THANE

District & Sessions Court, Thane Opposite

Collector Office, Court Naka, Thane (West) -

400 601

WARDHA

District & Sessions Court, New Building,

Civil Lines, Wardha - 442 001

WASHIM

District and Sessions Court, Nyay Mandir,

Civil Line, Washim 444505

YAVATMAL

District and Sessions Court, Nyay Mandir,

District Court Complex, Dhamangaon Road,

Near Main Post Office, Yavatmal - 445 001

APPENDIX – I

For E-filing portal version 3.0 (https://

filing.ecourts.gov.in/pdedev) (Applicable

to all the District,Taluka and excadre

courts in the state of Maharashtra)

Screenshots showing the procedure for accessing the online

portal, electronic filing of documents and list of designated

counters.

(I) : Accessing the online portal

• Visit https://filing.ecourts.gov.in/pdedev to access efiling portal.

• Registered Users can log in into the system by

using username(Barcode/Email/Mobile Number/

Unique Code given at the time of registration)

and password.

• After login into e-filing portal, the

DashBoard of the Advocate appears as

shown in the following picture.

(II)

filing of Documents :

This menu allow user to upload their legal documents,

provide indexing, authorise signatories and e-sign the

pleadings.

This tab enables user to perform following actions :

• Upload new legal documents (in pdf format) for selected case.

• View/Search previously uploaded documents.

• Merge uploaded documents.

Upload New Documents :

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• The message, ‘Addition Successful’ will be displayed

and the document can be viewed in the table provided

at the bottom of the form.

View/Search uploaded documents :

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APPENDIX – II

For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.ecourts.gov.

in/) (Applicable to High court at Bombay and its benches at

Nagpur,

Aurangabad and Bombay High Court at Goa and

District Courts and Taluka Courts at Diu,

Daman, Silvasa)

Screenshots showing the procedure for registration.

• Visit the efiling portal at https://efiling.ecourts.gov.in/

• Select the State either from the dropdown list or the

interactive map of India.

• Click on “Register” for New Registration of Advocate.

Note * Registration process is a time bound process. It has

to be completed in 18 minutes.

• Click on “Advocate” Radio Button.

• Enter “Mobile No.”, “Email” and “Bar Registration

No.” of the Advocate as entered in the local CIS.

• Then select a “User ID”

• Select “State”, “District” and “Establishment” where the

Advocateis registered. Then enter the “Captcha” and click on

“Get OTP” Button.

• The Advocate will receive two OTPs, one on his

Mobile and another on his email.

• Enter the OTPs received on “Mobile” and “Email”.

Then enter “captcha” and Click on “Verify OTP

• Then choose the Password and enter the Advocate Details.

• The upload the soft copies of “Photo” and “ID”

• Then choose the “ID Type” uploaded.

• Then enter “Captcha” and click on “Register”

• On successful Registration, the Advocate will get a

message “Registered Successfully”

• Advocates will be informed about the successful

Registration by email and SMS.

• Advocates can now use their Login credentials to login

to their account for efiling of cases.

*****

For E-filing portal version 3.0

(https://filing.ecourts.gov.in pdedev)

(Applicable to all the District, Taluka and

excadre courts in the state of Maharashtra)

Screenshots showing the procedure for registration

•

Visit e-filing portal at https://filing.ecourts.gov.in/pdedev

भाग चार-क-७९–५

• Registering new Users :

The registration process differs for different users. Basic

flow of events during registration is depicted in the

following image.

• To register with the e-filing system :

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• For Litigants-

• Basic flow of events during registration is depicted in the

following image.

• Follow the procedure given below to register with e-filing

system :

APPENDIX – III

Screenshots showing the procedure for converting a

document into an OCR searchable PDF.

• Download any free software or use online tools to

convert PDF to OCR searchable PDF.

• OCR.Space is a free Online PDF to OCR searchable conversion tool.

•

Go to https://ocr.space/ and upload image or PDF file (.png,.jpg,.webp or

.PDF) or paste url to source file (.png,.jpg,.webp or

.PDF). Click on “Start OCR” and then “Download”

buttons to covert and download PDF to OCR Searchable

PDF.

• Or you may download and install free PDF-XChange

Viewer to convert PDF to OCR searchable PDF.

• Select “Open” to open the PDF containing a scanned

image you wish to convert to OCR Format.

• From the main menu, select “Document”, “OCR Pages”.

• Select “Page Range”; “Recognition”; “Output”

and Image Quality at least 300 dpi then Click on

“OK”

• Output in OCR Format

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APPENDIX-IV

For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.ecourts.

gov.in/) (Applicable to High court at Bombay and its

benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Bombay High

Court at Goa and District Courts and Taluka Courts

at Diu,Daman, Silvasa)

Screenshots showing the procedure for appending single or

multiple digital signatures.

• Go to the website - http://cca.gov.in to get the list of

Licensed Certifying Authorities.

भाग चार-क-७९–६अ

APPENDIX – IV

For E-filing portal version 3.0 (https://filing.ecourts.

gov.in/pdedev) (Applicable to all Districts, Taluka and

excadre courts in the state of Maharashtra)

Screenshots showing the procedure for appending single or multiple

digital signatures.

• How to e-sign the documents (Authorised signatories)

• Select the Method of signing by selecting the radio

button for e- sign or OTP. For OTP, enter the mobile

number and the OTP which is sent to that number.

• Click on submit button.

• The message, “Signatory Authorised successfully” is

displayed. This signatory will now be able to e-sign/OTP

verify document through own login.

• e-Sign verification :

OTP Verification :

• Click on get OTP button in front of the desired document.

• Click get OTP.

• Enter the OTP and click verify.

• OTP verification success is displayed.

APPENDIX – V

Screenshots showing the procedure for

bookmarking.

• Open your PDF file to the page you want to bookmark

in Adobe Acrobat.

• Navigate to the page you wish to create a bookmark for. Go to

View > Tools >

Content Editing and in the Tools Pane, click on Add Bookmark.

• Or, click on the Options menu from the side Bookmarks

Navigation Panel. Select New Bookmark.

• You can also begin by selecting your page, right

clicking, and choosing Add Bookmark from the context

menu. In the box that reads ‘Untitled’, type in the

bookmark’s name. Press Enter to save it.

• Add bookmarks using Microsoft Word:

• Step one:

Open the document in Word and navigate to the section

or heading you wish to bookmark. Select the title you

wish to bookmark and then click on the Insert tab in

the ribbon, followed by selecting Bookmark.

भाग चार-क-७९–७

Step two

The Bookmark dialog box will open. Type the name of your

bookmark and then click Add. Repeat this process until all

required sections have been bookmarked.

Step three

Finally, save the document as a PDF. To do this, click on Save

As in the File menu. Select PDF in the dropdown menu. Before

saving, open the Options. menu at the bottom of the Save As

dialog box.

• Make sure that the option “Create bookmarks using:” is

selected and that it is set to use Word bookmarks. Click

OK and then Save.

•

APPENDIX – VI

For E-filing portal version 2.0 (https://efiling.

ecourts.gov.in/) (Applicable to High court at

Bombay and its benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad

and Bombay High Court at Goa and District

Courts and Taluka Courts at Diu, Daman,

Silvasa)

Screenshots showing the procedure for filing Caveat.

APPENDIX –VI

For E-filing portal version 3.0 (https://filing.ecourts.

gov.in/pdedev) (Applicable to all the District, Taluka

and excadre courts in the state of Maharashtra)

Screenshots showing the procedure for filing Caveat.

भाग चार-क-७९–८

APPENDIX -VII

1. Any information contained in an electronic record that is sought

to be produced in an electronic form and/or intended to be proved

as per law shall be filed only through Designated Counters. Any

party found dumping irrelevant data / electronic records shall be

liable for appropriate action and consequences.

2. Where the electronic record is contained in an electronic device it

shall, before being produced, be imaged for being produced on to

a removable media.

3. The electronic record shall be accompanied by a memo [see

Form A below]. The details and columns shall be filled up to the

extent the information is available. Where the Operating System

and software required to read/view/access the electronic record

is unavailable, it shall be provided by the party producing the

electronic record in a separate storage media.

4. Upon the receipt of the electronic record, the hash value thereof

shall be verified by the Registry and the electronic record shall

be transferred forthwith to the server of the Court following the

protocol set out as under:

• Image of the electronic record shall be received only by the

authorized personnel.

• Image of the electronic record shall be accompanied by a memo

(Form A) by the party tendering it.

• There shall be a dedicated server for receipt and storage of

electronic records with clearly specified access rights.

• A standardized procedure, as reviewed and updated from time to

time, shall be followed for the verification of the details mentioned

in the memo accompanying the electronic record.

• The file structure of the electronic record based on the case number

and the unique reference number shall be generated through the

software. For example, Case Number Unique Reference Number

of the Electronic Record

• An acknowledgement depicting the unique reference number

assigned to the electronic record shall be given to the party

tendering the electronic record.

• No electronic record in auto-erase mode shall be received. Every electronic

record will be preserved in read-only mode.

• A backup shall be created simultaneously of each electronic record after

assignment of the unique reference number and the backup shall be

stored at a separate location.

• Logs shall be maintained for all actions and the entire process shall be

automated.

5. Where confidentiality is sought in respect of the whole or any part of the

electronic record, directions may be sought from the Court concerned.

6. The extant rules (of the Court concerned) regarding retention and

production of original documents will apply mutatis mutandis to

electronic records produced in terms of these rules.

7. Upon verification and transfer, a unique number will be assigned to the

electronic record by the Registry. Such a unique number shall be made

available to the person tendering such electronic record.

8. After a unique number is assigned, the storage media will be returned

to the party/counsel concerned.

9. A separate register in the prescribed format shall be maintained in every

Court or Court complex as the case may be, of the electronic records

received, verified and transferred to the server.

10.

Till such time the electronic record is transferred to the server

and returned to the person tendering it, the storage device containing

the electronic record should be placed in antistatic and magnetic proof

or another such appropriate envelope, to be provided by the party. Such

envelope will be appropriately labelled, by the party with the details of

the case and the electronic record in the manner indicated below:

• The storage media containing the electronic record will be tendered in

an appropriate envelope or cover.

• The envelope or cover should be free of dust, grease and chemical

pollutants and kept in a sterile environment

• As far as possible:

o The appropriate size of the envelope would be 6” x 6” for pen drives

and memory cards; 7” x 10” for CD, DVD and 8” x 10” for hard disks.

o Electronic record should always be packed in anti-static packing

and magnetic proof. Only paper or cardboard should be used

with a thin

भाग चार-क-७९–८अ

water/dustproof plastic layer on the outside of the envelope.

o A master envelope may be used to hold multiple disks (packed in

separate hard plastic cases) if necessary.

• The Label affixed thereupon, should necessarily include the case

details, type, make and Sr. no. of the electronic storage media along

with the name of the party or the person tendering it.

Such envelope should be kept in a sterile environment. After the

electronic record is transferred as per the protocol hereinabove, the

envelope will be returned along with the storage media. In any event,

the storage media and the envelope will not be retained beyond one

week, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

11. The Registry shall maintain logs documenting all processes

and protocols for electronic records created in the normal course of

business.

12. The court concerned will display on the website the list of the

operating systems and the softwares available in the court system.

Guidance notes will be uploaded on the websites of the High Court

and District Courts.

13. Only authorized personnel shall have access to electronic records.

14. These rules/guidelines do not deal with the destruction of

electronic records or devices which have not been collected under

clause 11. These will be governed by the rules framed by the Court

concerned for that purpose, as the case may be.

15. These rules will apply also to the production of electronic records

during the cross-examination of a witness in the course of the trial.

FORM A

MEMO TO BE ATTACHED TO THE ELECTRONIC RECORD

Name of the Court

– Case No. –

Cause Title of the Case –

The party producing the electronic record and

name of person tendering it

Description (Brand name, Serial number, etc.), if

any, of storage media (whether CD/DVD/Pen Drive

etc)

Operating

System

and

Software/Applica

tion required to view/read the electronic record

Number of files and size of each as contained in

the storage media.

Duration of each file in HH:MM: SS (in case of

audio/video file)

The date on which data was stored or copied on

said storage media (DD:MM: YY).

Name of person/agency, if any, which extracted

and transferred Electronic Record.

Hash Function used (SHA-2/MD5 and / or any oth

er media notified from time to time) and software

used to generate the hash value.

Hash Value

Description of the device from which such elec

tronic record was extracted and transferred (Brand

name/Serial number/IMEI number, etc.)

Any other particulars

Date -

Party (Name & Signature) -

Place -

Counsel (Name & Signature)

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY

Date of receipt (with time):

If the record is produced in sealed

cover from an agency, description

of seal:

Date of Transfer to the server (with

time):

Reasons for delay in transfer (if

any):

Unique Document ID No. (to be

filled by the Registry):

Verified

and

transferred

by: (Name, designation, signa

ture):

RETURN OF STORAGE MEDIA

Date of return of the storage media

after the transfer of the electronic

record to the server.

Name and signature (with date) of

party/counsel to whom returned

APPENDIX –VIII

PROTOCOL TO BE FOLLOWED FOR THE MARKING OF

ELECTRONIC RECORDS AS EXHIBITS DURING TRIAL

1. Image of the electronic record shall be retrieved from the server of the

Court during the stage of trial after verifying its authenticity with

reference to its hash value and metadata.

2. Where an electronic record is printable, its print out shall be marked as

an exhibit as per applicable rules and practices. This print out so marked

as an exhibit be scanned, electronically signed by the Judge and uploaded

on to the Court server as the exhibited electronic record.

3. Where the image of the electronic record is in the form of an audio recording

of a conversation, the parties concerned shall produce transcripts of the

recorded conversation. The transcripts must bear all material particulars

including the date, time and duration of the recordings, the mobile phone

numbers with IMEI numbers of the handsets used and the names of the

purported conversationalists. The audio recording shall be played in the

Court. The matching transcript of such audio recording will be marked as

an exhibit as per applicable rules and practices. The exhibited transcript

of the audio recording will be scanned, electronically signed by the Judge

and uploaded on to the Court server as the exhibited electronic record.

4. Where the image of the electronic record is in the form of an audio recording

of a music clip, tune, etc. The audio file may be accessed with the help

of prescribed ‘audio file visualiser’ software for viewing and analysing

the contents of music audio files; for viewing their waveforms, audio

visualisations such as spectrogram views, with interactive adjustment of

display parameters. The relevant portion(s) of the audio data may be

annotated by adding labelled time points and defining segments, point

values, curves, overlay annotations on top of one another with aligned

scales, and overlay annotations on top of waveform or spectrogram views,

etc.;

5. Where the image of the electronic record is in the form of a video recording,

the same shall be played in the Court. The proceeding of the Court in

which the video record is played, statement of the witness including

cross- examination in respect of any part of the video record shall be

video recorded to form part of the record of the trial. This video recorded

deposition of the witness be treated as an exhibit. The Court in its order

sheet must record in detail the persons identified by the witness and any

other material aspect of the deposition/cross-examination concerning all

/ any part of the video record played in the Court. Time frame in the video

be also mentioned in the order, wherever required.

ON BEHALF OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, STATIONERY AND PUBLICATION, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DIRECTOR,

RUPENDRA DINESH MORE, PRINTED AT GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS, 21-A, NETAJI SUBHASH ROAD, CHARNI ROAD,

MUMBAI 400 004 AND PUBLISHED AT DIRECTORATE OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, STATIONERY AND PUBLICATIONS,

21-A, NETAJI SUBHASH ROAD, CHARNI ROAD, MUMBAI 400 004. EDITOR : DIRECTOR, RUPENDRA DINESH MORE.