‘Not Tolerable at Any Cost’: Allahabad HC Raps Officials for Turning Pages with Saliva
The Allahabad High Court mandates strict hygiene, prohibiting clerks from using saliva to turn over case file pages
The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on the practice of using saliva to turn over pages of petitions and case files, calling it “highly unhygienic, disgusting, and condemnable.”
Justice Shree Prakash Singh made the scathing observations while hearing a land dispute matter filed by one Krishna Vati and another against the State of Uttar Pradesh and others.
Court noted that in more than ten petitions filed the same morning, pages bore reddish saliva marks used by clerks, oath commissioners, or officials while flipping papers.
Justice Singh warned that such conduct displayed a lack of “basic civic sense” and posed a serious risk of spreading infections.
“If such kind of filthy practice is not restrained, the same will create cause of infection to persons who would come in contact with such papers. Therefore, this is not tolerable at any cost,” the judge observed.
Taking immediate preventive steps, the bench directed the Senior Registrar and the Registry to carefully examine every petition, paper book, or application at the time of filing and ensure that no document with saliva stains is entertained.
"To prevent such practice, the Senior Registrar and the In-charge Registry including the Officials deployed therewith are directed to ensure that while filing the paper book/ petitions/ applications, this shall be carefully examined and ensured that no paper having such SALIVA SPOT of any kind be entertained or accepted by the Registry," the order read.
The Government Advocate and the Chief Standing Counsel were also directed to issue written directions in their offices restraining such practices.
After issuing these warnings and directions, court turned to the main case before it, which involved competing claims over land in Bahraich district. The applicants sought quashing of two orders: one by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Mahsi, Bahraich, dated December 20, 2022, and another by the Additional Sessions Judge, Bahraich, dated March 6, 2025. The dispute concerned land recorded as Gata No. 171 in Village Pipariya.
The SDM had initially attached the land under Section 146 Cr.P.C. on the application of private parties. The applicants, however, claimed to be recorded tenure holders and argued that their ownership had been concealed during those proceedings. On May 11, 2023, the SDM recalled his earlier attachment order. But when the opposite parties challenged this recall, the revisional court set it aside and remanded the case for fresh hearing.
Before the High Court, the applicants argued that the revisional court had ignored their lawful rights and failed to rule on their recall plea. Justice Singh noted that the revisional court had indeed not addressed the applicants’ status as recorded owners.
Finding the issue meritorious, the High Court stayed both the SDM’s 2022 order and the revisional court’s 2025 order, issuing notices to the opposite parties and listing the matter for October 27, 2025.
Case Title: Krishna Vati And Another vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Lko. And 4 Others
Order Date: September 22, 2025
Bench: Justice Shree Prakash Singh