Lucknow, Jul 28 The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday held that litigants and advocates are not required to personally visit the court for photo identification while filing writ petitions, observing that affidavits duly notarised anywhere in the country are valid for the purpose.
A division bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai in Lucknow made the observation while dismissing a petition challenging the Photo Affidavit Identification system followed by the high court.
The bench said the Stamp Reporting Section accepts all legally valid affidavits, whether filed through the Photo Affidavit Identification procedure or duly notarised before a notary.
The petitioner, Biswajit Chowdhury, had contended that ordinary litigants were required to appear personally before the high court for photo verification, while officials of the central and state governments were exempted.
He argued that the differential treatment was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Rejecting the plea, the court observed that the e-filing system introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain operational, enabling litigants to file writ petitions and other applications along with affidavits notarised anywhere in India.
The bench also noted that the high court had clarified in a reply under the Right to Information Act that duly notarised affidavits are accepted at the filing stage.
In view of the clarification, the court held that there was no basis to treat photo identification as mandatory for filing writ petitions and dismissed the petition, observing that the challenge was unnecessary.
