Order 17 Supreme Court Rules

Order 17 of the Supreme Court Rules 2024 is about Electronic Filing. It contains the following rules:

Order 17 Rule 1 Supreme Court Rules 2024 – Electronic filing system of the Court

(1) where under these Rules, a party is required to file any document, applies ion or any process, such document. application, or process shall henceforth be filed via the NCMS E-Filing portal, and after a date announced by the Chief Justice pursuant to this rule, no other mode of filing by a party or by a Legal Practitioner shall be valid.

(2) Where in filing any Court process under these Rules, a party is required to accompany such process with affidavit or any statement on oath, it shall suffice to file a scanned copy via the NCMS E-Filing portal and hand in the original al the Registry of the Court to be kepi along with originals of uploaded documentary evidence.

(3) Save as otherwise provided under these Rules or other relevant laws, only documents received through and stored in the NCMS arc proper records of the Court, and Justices, parties and al registry staff shall consider and treat them accordingly.

(4) Where a process is filed electronically before midnight on a public holiday or ion-judicial day it shall be deemed to have been filed on the next working day.

Order 17 Rule 2 Supreme Court Rules 2024 – Fees in electronic filing

(1) The electronic filing system of die Court: shall assess the fees payable for every process sought to be filed and upon payment of the relevant fees, the system shall generate a receipt of payment

(2) A party filing a process or an application for which fees arc chargeable under these Rules, shall fully and accurately disclose information and input all the data required for the purpose of assessment. Where failure to do so results in underassessment by the automated system, the party shall be liable upon detection to pay thrice the fee payable.

(3) An electronically filed process shall be deemed as filed upon the payment of the relevant fees.

Order 17 Rule 3 Supreme Court Rules 2024 – Electronic signature

(1) Where these Rules or Practice Directions require a document to be signed or sealed, it shall suffice where such a document is filed in accordance with the parameters allowed by the NCMS E-Filing portal.

(2) An electronic signature shall constitute the parties’ signature on every electronically filed process.

Order 17 Rule 4 Supreme Court Rules 2024 – Direction of Chief Justice

(1) The electronic filing system shall run parallel with the existing manual filing procedure in these Rules until such time as the Chief Justice may otherwise direct.

(2) The Chief Justice shall periodically issue Practice Directions to provide for the manner and form of Electronic Filing processes and the administration of the electronic filing system of the Court.