The Allahabad High Court has expressed displeasure over a handwritten order issued by the Deputy Director of Consolidation, Jaunpur, which was not legible. The Court directed the authority to pass a legible order and furnish a certified copy of the same to the petitioner within a period of three weeks.

The Bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery observed in his order, "The Court is amazed that Deputy Director of Consolidation, Jaunpur, in the 21st century, when Bharat is in process of ‘Soft Landing on Moon’, has passed a short impugned order in his own hand writing which is absolutely illegible, when there are other options available such as by using computer or voice typing, however, the Officer has not used it".

India launched Chandrayaan-3, its third lunar exploration mission on Friday, on which date the High Court passed its order. The mission is expected to make a soft landing on the surface of the moon on 23 August.

Advocate Najam Uz Zaman Khan appeared for the petitioner in the case while Advocate Anil Kumar Mishra appeared for the respondents.

The Court noted that neither the lawyers appearing in the case nor the lawyers present in court could read the order correctly. "Learned counsels appearing for rival parties even members of bar present in Court, are not able to correctly read out the entire order running into just 25 or 30 lines", the Court observed.

The Court directed the authority concerned to pass an order which shall be legible, either in clear handwriting or by computer typing.

"The aforesaid exercise shall be done within a period of three weeks and a certified copy thereof shall be provided to petitioner thereafter free of cost, which shall be placed before this Court", the Court ordered.

The Court ordered that a copy of the order also be sent to Consolidation Commissioner, Lucknow, in addition to the Deputy Director of Consolidation who passed the illegible order.

Interestingly, the Court attached a scanned image of the said illegible order to the order of the Court. The Court directed that the petition be put up after three weeks.

Cause Title: Shamsuddin v. State Of U.P. & Ors.

Click here to read/download Order