While sustaining objection over acceptability of a plea that annexed a verdict downloaded from the Lahore High Court website, a single-member bench of the Court Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir ruled only certified copy of the verdict shall be admissible evidence in a case.
The Electronic Transactions Ordinance (TETO),2002 provides legal recognition to electronic signatures. It says that “the requirement under any law for affixation of signatures shall be deemed satisfied where electronic signatures or advanced electronic signatures are applied.”
However, the Ordinance empowers the superior courts to make rules for regulation of their proceedings as mentioned under Section 2 of the law “This Ordinance, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—(iv) in relation to matters in respect whereof the Supreme Court or the High Courts are empowered to make rules for the regulation of their proceedings, the Supreme Court or High Court, as the case may be”.
Appearing before the bench against Court’s office objection over attachment of the LHC website downloaded copy of judgment, counsel for the petitioner contended that in response to a writ petition 561 of 2022, judgment of February 24,2022 regarding the plea had been uploaded on the LHC website. The counsel apprised the court that he downloaded the same judgment and attached with the file as annexure but the Court office has raised objection.
In his 7-pages order in the matter, Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir said, “The perusal of the afore-referred pages shows that apparently the same comprise of an unsigned copy of judgment passed in the aforementioned case, however, nothing is available on the record to substantiate that the said pages have been downloaded from the official website of this Court and have remained un-altered or un-changed thereafter”.
Justice Shabir further stated in the verdict, “Besides, there is no mechanism available with the office of this Court to verify whether the said copy has been compared with the original judgment/order of this court by any competent authority and is free from errors and omissions so as Diary No. 149609/22 dated 11.10.2022 to be treated as a true and real copy of the judgment actually passed by this Court”.
He said 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 Lahore High Court Rules and Orders nor by any notification issued by this Court in this regard rather the said copies are uploaded subject to all just and legal exceptions and not claimed to be authentic and true copies of the orders actually passed by this Court and free from errors or omissions.
Citing Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, and certain other laws that permit production of certified copies with a presumption that such certified copies are genuine Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir said in the verdict, “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”.
