Postal dept ready to take over task of sending court summonses

In a bid to free the police force from the burden of delivering court summonses to litigants, the Department of Post, Maharashtra Circle, has shown readiness to take over the responsibility.
The department made a submission in this regard to the Bombay High Court authorities last month after having several rounds of meetings with all the stakeholders, a senior postal department official said.
"We have expressed our readiness and preparedness to discharge this job (of delivering court summonses). It is up to the honourable High Court to give us further instructions on the matter," he said.
If the proposal gets implemented, then the Bombay HC would become the third court to do so after the Delhi and Odisha High Courts, he said.

The idea of delivering court summonses to litigants by the postal department was first mooted in 2012. After this, there were several rounds of meetings between police, court and the department officials.
"It it gets implemented, the burden on an already stressed police force will reduce to a great extent and free them for policing duties," said the official.

Only policemen are allowed to personally deliver summonses to the people concerned.
"Based on the requirement and resources, we will give preliminary orientation to postmasters on how to deliver court summonses. We can also come up with especially designed envelops to deliver these documents," the official added.

The Bombay HC, in September last year, asked the state government to amend laws to provide for serving warrants and summonses to accused and witnesses through registered post in addition to the existing procedure followed by the police machinery.
The ruling, delivered while hearing a PIL, sought to expedite the process of delivering pending summonses and warrants in cheque bounce cases.