Delhi High Court E-Filing Portal Still Broken, Citizens Denied Justice

Citizen’s fresh complaint to Delhi High Court and Supreme Court exposes systemic negligence in India’s e-filing system.

Key Flaws in DHC E-Filing Portal

• ⚠️ Account Opening Blocked: Initial PIP (Petitioner-in-Person) account request rejected with meaningless error message.

• ⏳ Data Loss: After entering Petitioner and Respondent details, the system logged out and deleted all information.

• 📄 Memo of Parties Upload Failure: Portal rejected valid PDF with cryptic error: “Please Enter Valid Text. Don’t use special character or script.”

• 🔗 Broken Links: Official link to Memo of Parties template on DHC site redirects to “Not Found” error page.

• 🖥️ Poor Design & Usability: Truncated messages, lack of clear instructions, and no safeguards against repeated failures.

• 💸 Public Money Wasted: Despite huge expenditure on e-Courts digitization, citizens cannot file cases smoothly online.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | September 30, 2025

The promise of a paperless and accessible judiciary through online filing systems in India remains far from reality. On September 27, 2025, I, Rakesh Raman — a petitioner-in-person (PIP) — filed a formal complaint with the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court (DHC), with a copy to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), about persistent technical flaws in the DHC’s e-filing portal.

The complaint, sent both in email body and as a PDF attachment, details how the e-filing platform is riddled with design flaws, cryptic error messages, and broken links that prevent litigants from filing their cases.

On September 28, 2025, the same complaint was filed with the Justice and Legislative Affairs Department of the Delhi Government through the Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS). However, no response has been received so far.

Persistent Failures in the DHC E-Filing Portal

In my representation, I explained how my first attempt to open a petitioner-in-person account was rejected with an incomprehensible message: “INPRSN UNDRTANG MIS.” Only after I lodged a complaint did DHC staff call and email me to explain the process, following which the account was opened.

But the difficulties did not stop there. When I entered all the Petitioner and Respondent details, the system suddenly logged me out and deleted all my data. I had to re-enter everything from scratch.

Next, while uploading the mandatory Memo of Parties (MOP), the system repeatedly displayed an error message: “Please Enter Valid Text. Don’t use special character or script.” I had already created a proper separate PDF of the MOP, but the portal refused to accept it.

The system indicated that I should use a template for uploading the MOP. However, when I clicked the official link under the “Forms & Proformas” section of the DHC website, it opened a non-functional page. The so-called “template” download page showed only one incomplete line of text and then redirected to a dead “Not Found” page.

Screenshots of these flaws were annexed with my complaint as evidence.

Larger Problem of Judicial Negligence

These recurring failures expose a deeper malaise in India’s judicial administration. Public money worth thousands of crores of rupees has been spent on digitization and e-courts projects, yet litigants face endless roadblocks even for basic tasks like uploading documents.

The Delhi High Court’s e-filing system — instead of easing the process — actually increases the burden on citizens, especially those appearing as petitioners-in-person without legal assistance. The system is plagued by poor design, careless implementation, and cryptic user interfaces that make it practically unusable.

Such negligence directly obstructs citizens’ constitutional right to access justice. It is also likely that thousands of litigants silently suffer these hurdles without raising complaints.

Need for Accountability

In my complaint, I demanded that the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India take urgent action to:

• Provide correct, functional templates for mandatory documents.
• Fix broken links and cryptic error messages.
• Prevent data loss when users are logged out.
• Ensure a smooth, end-to-end online filing process, as mandated by the e-Courts mission.

This representation was marked as a continuation of my earlier complaint dated September 26, 2025. While this stage of representation focuses on technical rectification, I plan to subsequently file a detailed complaint seeking accountability of DHC staff, including disciplinary action and possible termination of services where negligence is proved.

About the Author and Petitioner

Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. He has held senior editorial positions with leading media organizations and regularly contributed an exclusive editorial column to The Financial Express, the daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group.

He is the author of multiple research reports, including India Judicial Research Report (IJRR) 2024: Decline of the Indian Judiciary, and is currently compiling IJRR 2025. His investigative journalism has covered environment protection, human rights, education, and anti-corruption campaigns.

Rakesh serves as a Country Expert for India with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has also collaborated with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert. Due to his work exposing corruption and injustice, he has faced repeated threats, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) publicly urging the Indian government to ensure his safety.

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