[blindLaw] Some questions about the modalities of making legal filings accessible

[Rahul Bajaj]

Hi, Everyone,

I recently started clerking on the Indian Supreme Court. One
accessibility issue that I am struggling with is this. My
understanding is that lawyers prepare their PDF filings by printing
out their work product and then scanning it. As opposed to simply
converting their filings from word to PDF. As a result, a lot of text
is difficult to decipher. Illustratively, one counter affidavit, in
pertinent part, reads as follows:
"starkly perceptible signs of influence with regard to
allocation of cases to dffirent benches selectively, lo
select judges who were perceived to be politically
biased." .
Such a disclosure creates an obligation ror every citizen to
defend the independence of the Supreme Court.
A copy of the Times of India report, "We felt then CJI was
being remote controlled; Justice Kttrian Joseph", dated 3'd
December 2018 is annexed as Annexu ,, C+ (lll't?7)."

As you can see, some words are muffed up. The annexure number
containing the Times of India report is also unclear. My sense is
because they did not convert this document from word to PDF while
filing and instead printed and scanned it. Is that right?

Second, some scans are also in pixelated form, making their quality
poor. Illustratively, part of an annexure reads as follows:
"AND WHEREAS the Govemmc~nl of India has daclded to provide certain
rela>:atlons for industnal ar.\’.! commercial acl1\·if1es from 20th
Aprfl. 2020."

Would asking for the filing of a typed copy of annexures of this
nature be the best solution?

Finally, I am wondering how accessible you find consolidated PDFs. By
consolidated PDFs, I mean a PDF that is a compilation of multiple
PDFs. One PDF containing the impugned judgment, one cotaining the
appeal and so on. As opposed to a single PDF containing everything.
Happy to discuss this off-list if that would be more helpful.

I am going to talk to the Justice I am working for later this week and
propose some solutions. And want to do my homework before I do this.
Thank you.

Rahul





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Rahul Bajaj
Candidate for the MPhil in Law
Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018)
University of Oxford