Writ Proceedings Rules 1977
(a) These rules may be called the Writ Proceedings Rules, 1977.
(b) These rules shall come into force on the 4th day of June, 1977.
(c) These rules shall apply to the petitions, applications and appeals filed on or after the 4th day of June, 1977.
In these rules the expression “Petition” shall mean a writ petition and the expression “Application” shall mean a miscellaneous application.
(a) A petition for a direction, order or writ, including a writ of habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, quo warranto or prohibition shall be an original petition to be entitled “Writ Petition No....... of......” and shall be filed in the office of the Registrar by the petitioner or his duly authorised advocate or attorney :
(b) An application shall be entitled writ miscellaneous petition in the writ petition :
Provided that any such petition or application to the High Court by a person who is in jail and has not appointed an advocate or an attorney on his behalf, may be presented to the Officer-in-charge of the Jail, who shall forward the petition or application to the High Court without delay.
*[(c) Writ petition filed or taken up in the nature of Public Interest Litigation shall be numbered has "Public Interest Litigation" and the writ miscellaneous petition filed in such PIL shall be
(a) Every such petition shall set out the provision of law under which it is made and shall contain the following particulars :—
(i) the name, description and place of residence of the petitioner;
(ii) the name, description and place of residence of the respondent so far as they can be ascertained; and
(iii) the relief or reliefs sought.
(b) The petition shall be signed by the petitioner or his advocate or attorney and the facts relied on by the petitioner shall be verified by an affidavit which shall be filed along with the petition.
* [ Two or more persons raising common questions of law or persons having a common cause of action may join in a single writ petition paying a single set of Court fee.]
(a) Every affidavit shall be drawn up in the first person and shall set forth succinctly and in chronological order all the relevant facts and the grounds for the relief sought. The statement of facts shall be divided into consecutively numbered paragraphs, each paragraph being confined as nearly as may be to a distinct portion of the subject.
* [(b) The affidavit shall state—
(i) the particular right conferred by the provisions of Part III of the Constitution of India sought to be enforced;
(ii) the other purpose for which relief is sought;
(iii) the particular law impugned and how it is not constitutionally valid and whether it is a State Law, Central Law or State and Central Law;
(iv) whether any alternative remedy for the relief sought is provided for by or under any other law for the time being in force, and whether that remedy has been
* (a) (1) Every petition shall be accompanied by an affidavit and all the documents serially numbered as Ex.Pl, P2 etc., including rules, Bye-laws, Notifications etc., relied upon by the petitioner and the order challenged or a certified copy thereof and copies of all documents shall be certified by the party filing it to be a true and correct copy of the original of such documents if it is not a certified copy.
(2) When such petition is directed against the order of a quasi-judicial nature passed by any Industrial Tribunal, Labour Court, or any other like authority or made in any disciplinary proceedings, by a copy of the award the report of the Enquiry Officer, the order of the Disciplinary Authority and the order of the Appellate Authority passed on such Appeal, if any, and shall be marked and serially numbered as mentioned in sub-rule (1) above.
(3) The petition shall be accompanied by as many authenticate
* [ (a) Whenever a petition or application is presented against the Government or any authority, the copies of the petition, application and the accompanying affidavit and documents shall be served on the Government Pleader or the Standing Counsel concerned, and the said petition or the application shall not be accepted in the Registry unless it contains an endorsement of service signed by the Government Pleader or the Standing-Counsel concerned, or by the Secretary of the Government Pleader’s office or by someone authorised by him in this behalf, not below the rank of a Superintendent, or by a Registered Clerk of the Standing Counsel concerned, as the case may be, or by a person so authorised by the Standing Counsel concerned under intimation to this Registry.
(b) Every application for an interim order shall state whether copies of the petition, affidavit and documents have been served on the opposite party or part
* [ (a) Every writ petition filed in public interest shall be heard by a Bench of two Judges;
(b) In addition to and without derogating from the procedure prescribed in the other Rules contained herein, every writ petition filed in public interest shall conform to the procedure prescribed hereunder:
(i) The affidavit filed in support of such petition shall contain an averment by way of a separate paragraph in the following terms:
"I hereby afffirm and state on oath that the petitioner(s); herein has/have no personal interest in the subject-matter of this petition. The petitioner(s) hereby undertake(s) to pay exemplary costs and/or compensatory damages as directed by this Court in the event of a contrary finding upon adjudication by the Court that the writ petition is filed for extraneous/personal considerations or with an oblique motive."
(ii) Wher
(a) Every petition or application shall soon after it is numbered, be posted for orders of the Court as to issue of rule nisi or notice to the respondents. The Court may, upon hearing the petitioner or applicant or his advocate, either direct rule nisi or notice to issue and pass such interim orders as it may deem necessary, or reject the petition or application:
Provided that an application for an interim order shall not be posted for orders of Court under this sub-rule, unless a period of not less than forty-eight hours elapsed between the service of the copy of such application in accordance with Rule 7(a) on the Government Pleader or the Standing Counsel concerned;
Provided further that notwithstanding anything contained in the first proviso, if the applicant files an affidavit stating that the object of obtaining an order would be defeated by the delay of forty-eight hours, the application may be posted f
(1) Where any party against whom an interim order whether by way of injunction or stay or in any other manner, is made on, or in any proceeding relating to, a petition under clause (1) of Article 226 of the Constitution, without—
(a) furnishing to such party copies of such petition and all documents in support of the plea for such interim order; and
(b) giving such party an opportunity of being heard, makes an application to the High Court for the vacation of such order and furnishes a copy of such application to the party in whose favour such order has been made or the Counsel of such party, the High Court shall dispose of the application within a period of two weeks from the date on which it is received or from the date on which the copy of such application furnished, whichever is later, or where the High Court is closed on the last day of that period, before the expiry of that period, or, as the case
(a) Unless the Court otherwise directs the rule nisi together with a copy of the petition, affidavit and documents in support thereof shall be served on the party against whom such a petition is filed or on such other party or person as the Court may direct, not less than 14 days before the date fixed for the hearing of the rule nisi. If the rule nisi is returned unserved or is not returned served before the date fixed for the hearing, the petition shall be posted before the Registrar who may give such further directions regarding the steps to be taken for effecting services as may be necessary :
Provided that where a party enters appearance, service of all petitions, affidavits and documents on the advocate or the attorney shall be deemed, to be service on the party for the purpose of these proceedings.
* [(b) Service of rule nisi or notice, shall ordinarily be effected by registered post, speed post or by an
(a) In every petition for issue of a writ of habeas corpus, the respondent shall on a rule nisi being issued produce the person concerned unless the Court for reasons to be recorded in writing dispenses with such production.
(b) On sufficient cause being shown, the High Court may during the pendency of a petition for issue of a writ of habeas corpus, release the person detained or restrained on bail on such terms and conditions as it may deem fit.
* [ (i) (a) Every respondent in every writ petition intending to enter appearance and oppose any writ petition on which notice is issued by the High Court, shall enter appearance and file a counter-affidavit in opposition as soon as may be and in any event not later than six months from the date of service of notice in the writ petition or the service of rule nisi on the said respondent “unless otherwise directed by the Court.”
(b) Reply affidavits shall be filed unless otherwise ordered, within one month of receipt of copy of the counter-affidavit.
(ii) No counter-affidavit filed beyond six months from the date of service of notice on the opposite party or parties in the writ petition shall be received or be used at the hearing of the writ petition unless the Court permits the respondent on an application containing special reasons to do so.
(iii) Affidavits in oppositi
(a) The copies of documents shall be fairly and neatly type-written on substantial white foolscape paper with an outer margin 2" wide, and inner margin 1" wide, and shall be stitched book-wise. The copies of the documents shall be arranged in chronological order. The pages shall be numbered and indexed. The copies of documents filed along with the petition and filed subsequently shall bear consecutive numbering. The copies of the documents shall be certified to be ‘true copies’ by the Council on record.
(b) While filing the documents the petitioner shall mark his documents as ‘P’ series and the respondent as “R” series. If there are more respondents than one each respondent shall mark his document as ‘R-l’ series, ‘R-2’ series and the like according to his rank among respondents. The parties shall give continuous page numbers to all the documents filed by them and furnish an index.
(a) The following petitions shall be heard by a Bench of two Judges.
(i) Petitions for a writ in the nature of habeas corpus;
(ii) Petitions relating to elections under the Representation of the People Act, 1951;
(iii) Petitions relating to Income Tax, Gift Tax, Wealth Tax, Estate Duty, Sales Tax and Excise Acts and other allied Acts (State and Central Taxation Cases);
* [(iv) Petitions relating to matters coming within the purview of:-
A.P. Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1982;
Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985;
A.P. Lokayukta & Upa-Lokayukta Act, 1983; and
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.]
(b) All other petitions shall be posted before a single Judge who may if he thinks fit, refer any of them to a Bench of two Judges.
The party to the proceedings under these rules shall be entitled to inspect the records called for and relating to the proceedings, on a request made in writing in that behalf to the Government Pleader or the Standing Counsel concerned. If such a request is refused, the party shall be entitled to apply to the Court for directions in that behalf.
(a) The Court may at any stage of the proceedings, either upon or without any application and on such terms as may appear to be just, order that the name of any party improperly joined be struck out, and that the name of any person who ought to have been joined or whose presence may be necessary in order to enable the Court effectually and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all the questions in the petition, be added.
(b) At the hearing of the petition or application, any person who desires to be heard in opposition to the petition or application and appears to the Court to be a proper person to be heard, may be heard, subject to such conditions as to costs as the Court may deem fit to impose.
(a) The memorandum of appeal against an order in a petition or an application shall be in the form prescribed or an appeal under the letters patent but will be registered and numbered as a “Writ Appeal”.
(b) An application for an interim order in a writ appeal shall be numbered as a “Writ Appeal Miscellaneous Petition.”
Such memorandum shall be accompanied by_
(i) the Court fees prescribed therefor;
(ii) proof of services of notice on all the parties who appeared at the hearing of petition;
(iii) two typewritten copies of the order appealed against;
(iv) two additional copies of the memorandum; and
(v) two copies of all other papers on which the appellant intends to rely:
* [Provided that whenever any case is referred to Full Bench or Larger Bench, “the Counsel for the petitioner or the appellant, as the case may be, shall furnish additional sets of papers (copies of the writ petition or writ appeal, order appealed against and copies of all other papers) on which the petitioner/appellant intends to rely. The Registry shall inform the Counsel concerned regarding the reference to the Full Bench/Larger Bench. Number of additional sets to
The appeal shall, as soon as may be after it is numbered, be posted before a Division Bench who may dispose of it at once or adjourn it for further hearing.
Where a petitioner unduly delays the bringing of a petition to hearing the Registrar shall call upon him to explain the delay, and after notifying all parties who have entered appearance, place the petition and the explanation if any, before the Court for such directions as the Court may think fit to give thereon.
Unless the Court otherwise directs, the direction or order made or the rule absolute issued by the High Court shall be implemented within two months of the receipt of the order.
(a) In all proceedings to which these rules apply, the Court may make such order as to costs and security as it may consider just and necessary.
* [(b) In all petitions and appeals under Articles 226 and 227 of Constitution of India, and in all appeals arising therefrom under Clause 15 of Letters Patent, the Court shall fix such fees as it considers to be just and proper and irrespective of whether the petition or appeal, as the case may be, is allowed dismissed or disposed of.]
(c) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (b), where the Courts is of the opinion that any party to the proceedings or any other person or authority has made averments false to his knowledge or deliberately suppressed material facts, or mis-represented or indulged in vexatious proceedings, it may award such amount of exemplary costs as it may deem fit in the circumstances of the case, in addition to the costs that may be award
(a) A party to whom costs have been awarded in a writ petition or a writ appeal or an application therein may obtain an order of the Court for transmission for the purpose of execution of the order of costs to the Court of the District Munsif or to the Court of the Subordinate Judge in the State in whose jurisdiction the party against whom the order is to be expected ordinarily resides, or carries on the business or has property which can be attached.
(b) An application for such transmission shall be made by a verified miscellaneous petition under the title of the writ petition or writ appeal, in addition to such particulars as may be necessary, and mention the Court to which the transmission is sought. It shall also be accompanied by a copy of the order sought to be transmitted for execution.
* [(c) A Court fee Rs.10/- shall be affixed to the miscellaneous petition and the applicants shall also pay necessary
All other rules relating to causes and matters coming before the original side and appellate side to the High Court and the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 will apply to the writ petitions and the writ appeal insofar as they are not inconsistent with these rules.
The Court may, on an application being made set aside an order dismissing for default or an ex parte order subject to payment of such costs and such other conditions as it may think fit to impose.
The forms set out in the Appendix hereto shall be used with suitable modifications wherever necessary.
* [ The rule nisi and notice in the writ petition and writ miscellaneous petition respectively or in the writ appeal and writ appeal miscellaneous petition respectively shall be issued to the respondents therein in the composite notice Form No.7 set out in the Appendix hereto and the rule nisi and notice so issued and served shall be treated as sufficient notice to the respondents of the hearing of writ petition and writ miscellaneous petition or writ appeal and writ appeal miscellaneous petition, as the case may be.
(2) The following Composite Form No.7 shall be substituted for the existing Form No.7 set out in the Appendix to the Writ Proceedings Rules, 1977.]
* [ Rule for destruction of the records in the writ petitions and writ appeals (vide Appendix I and II).]
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