What Rules Govern Font, Spacing, Margins In Petitions? Allahabad High Court Seeks Registrar General's Report
Sparsh Upadhyay
11 Aug 2026 4:32 PM IST
The Allahabad High Court has sought details of the rules or directives, if any, governing the use of typing font, spacing, signs, and margins while drafting the petition to be presented before the Court.
A bench of Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Garima Prashad sought the details after initially objecting to a petition whose relief clause had been drafted using italicised fonts. The Court had observed that such formatting was not permitted under the Rules of the Court and the orders passed by the Chief Justice.
Hearing the writ plea on August 6, the Court had summoned Assistant Registrar Ram Bhawan, who appeared on behalf of the Stamp Reporter.
He was directed to submit an explanation as well as an action taken report, fixing responsibility on the staff of the Stamp Reporting Section responsible for clearing the petition despite the formatting issue.
Later the same day, the Bench took into account the compliance report submitted by the Assistant Registrar.
The report stated that the mistake had occurred due to non-admittance and an unconditional apology was tendered with an assurance that such a lapse would not recur.
A Review Officer, who had checked the petition, also submitted a written explanation. According to the explanation, the defect could not be pointed out because there was no direction specifying the use of an italicised typed prayer as a defect.
The explanation further stated that, apart from Times New Roman, there had been no prescribed rule or practice regarding the use of fonts for drafting petitions.
The Bench also noted that it did not find any requirement regarding headers, footers, or bold letters in petitions.
Against this backdrop, the Court directed the Registrar General to place before it, on August 10, the rules and directives of the Full Bench or the Chief Justice, “if any”, concerning the use of typing font, spacing, signs, and margins while drafting petitions to be presented before the Court.
Case title - Sheo Kinkar Singh vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others
