‘Basic Defects Escaping Scrutiny’: Allahabad HC Orders Registrar General to Vet Every Petition Before Listing

The Allahabad High Court recently pulled up its Registry for repeatedly failing to identify basic filing defects and directed the Registrar General to personally verify all petitions, or ensure verification through a senior officer, before they are placed before the court.

The direction came while the bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery dismissed a writ petition after detecting double page numbering across several pages of the paper book.

When the matter was taken up, the petitioner’s counsel sought permission to withdraw the defective petition and file a fresh one with proper particulars.

Court allowed the withdrawal but imposed a cost of Rs. 500 to be deposited with the High Court Bar Association, Allahabad. It also made it clear that the Registry would not accept any fresh petition in the matter unless payment of cost was first confirmed.

Court noted that this was the fourth defective matter listed before it the same day, an indication, it said, of a systemic lapse rather than an isolated oversight.

The defects were not of a complex nature but were basic procedural errors that should have been identified at the filing counter itself.

Taking exception to the continued failure of the scrutiny process, court directed the Registrar General to examine why such mistakes were repeatedly going unnoticed.

It ordered that henceforth, before any petition is presented to the bench, the Registrar General must either carry out the verification personally or assign the task to a senior officer in the Registry.

A copy of the order was directed to be served to the Registrar General for immediate compliance.

Case Title: Minakshi Bhetwal vs. Union Of India, Through Ministry Of Higher Education and 2 Others

Order Date: November 3, 2025

Bench: Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery