Central Electricity Regulatory Commission v. National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited
(2010) 10 SCC 280
In the Supreme Court of India
Civil Appeals No. 21216/2010 and 21576/2010
Before Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S.P. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar
Decided on July 26, 2010

Relevancy of the case: Service of court notices by e-mail

Statutes & Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 6, 12, 13)
• The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Order 5 Rule 10, Section 148A)
• The Constitution of India, 1950 (Article 136)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• A necessity was felt to avoid delay in the process of serving and consequent piling up of arrears.
• Hence, the facility of serving court notices through e-mail was extended in addition to the normal modes of services already existing in the Supreme Court Rules.

Opinion of the Bench

• Service of notices may be served by e-mail in addition to the normal mode of service. For this purpose, the advocate-on-record will furnish a soft copy of the appeal/petition in PDF format to the filing counter at the time of filing the appeal/petition.
• The advocate-on-record shall also submit e-mail addresses of the respondents to the filing counter simultaneously. This will be in addition to the hard copy submission.
• If the court issues notice, then the Registry would send the same to the e-mail address of the respondents.
• The notice mentioned above would also be sent to the advocate on behalf of the respondents. An advocate-on-record has to provide his/her e-mail address for enabling such service while filing a caveat.
• Within two weeks from the order, the Cabinet Secretariat shall also provide centralised e-mail addresses of various Ministries/Departments/Regulatory Authorities along with the names of the Nodal Officers, if already appointed for the purposes of the service.

Final Decision

• The service of court notices by e-mail was extended in addition to the modes of service mentioned in the Supreme Court Rules. For the time being, the facility was extended to commercial litigation and those cases where the Advocate(s)-on record seek urgent interim reliefs.
• It was directed that a copy of the order shall be sent to all the High Courts for necessary action.
• The civil appeals were admitted.