LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has passed a judgment declaring that a copy claimed to be downloaded from official website of this court cannot be treated as an equivalent or at par with the certified copy.
The court passed this order in an objection case filed by one Akeel Ahmad against the office of registrar for not accepting the unattested copies of the court orders annexed with the petition.
The court said the official website of the high court did not mention that due care and caution had been taken to ensure that the judgment or order uploaded on its website was free from all errors and omissions and was an exact copy of what had been decided by the court.
The court said the copy submitted was an unsigned copy downloaded by the petitioner himself from the official website, without any involvement of and authentication by the office of this court, such copy would not be allowed to be used as substitute of original order.
The court held that such a copy has neither been made per se admissible in a court of law as evidence of what has been decided therein through permission granted by the LHC Rules and Orders nor by any notification issued by this court in this regard.
The court said, although Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, and certain other laws permit production of certified copies with a presumption that such certified copies are genuine yet such presumption of genuineness and correctness is not per se applicable to an unsigned copy of an order or judgment of this court even if it is stated to be downloaded from the official website of this court.
The court said although section 12 of the Ordinance, makes an electronically generated printout of documents admissible as evidence as a true copy of the original document/order yet the same has been made admissible subject to the condition that may be laid down by the appropriate authority
The court observed, as far as the matter relating to an unsigned copy of the judgment published in a law journal is concerned, the judgments printed in a law journal may not be an exact copy of what had been actually decided hence, such permission to place on record does not have an absolute presumption attached to it regarding integrity of the judgment being intact, the court added.
The court concluding the matter said the electronically generated/downloaded copy of judgment or order uploaded on official website of the court cannot be allowed to be made part of the judicial record in an ordinary course of action.
However, if such copies are attached with the file, the office is required to raise an objection against the same and where such an objection is raised and placed before the court for decision, the court may in its discretion allow or disallow its retention on the record on case to case basis, the court concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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