Order 17 — Electronic Filing

(1) Where under these Rules, a party is required to file any document, application 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 at the Registry of the Court to be kept 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 are proper records of the Court, and Justices, parties and all registry staff shall consider and treat them accordingly.

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

(1) The electronic filing system of the 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 are 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 under assessment by the automated system, the party shall be liable upon detection to pay three the fee payable.

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

(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.

(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.