Time extended for written response in appeals
Section 283 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that an appeal can be filed in a high court within 30 days of a decision of a lower court.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
The High Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for written reply by 20 days in some appeals being examined by the court.
The High Court on Tuesday amended and gazetted its 'Civil Procedure Regulations’. With the extension of the accountability period, the regulations have been amended with two major changes.
The amendment to the regulations states that the court should give at least 20 days' time to the appellants to give a written reply to the appeal charge in cases other than appeals of interim orders and some other orders.
In cases of interim orders and other orders, an appeal was given at least five days to respond, as was the case before.
The next amendment to the regulation is that under Section 283 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the 30-day time and six months for filing an appeal against the decision of the lower courts will be considered. The rules now state that the period will be counted in accordance with Section 424 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Section 424 of the Code of Criminal Procedure defines the number of times in doing what is required under the Act. The article says:
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If a period is asked to do a certain thing within a certain period of time, then counting the period will not include the date of commencement or end of that period
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If a period of seven days includes a public holiday during the seven-day period, then that holiday will not be included in the counting of that period
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If the expiry of the period specified in this Act, or in a court order or any other direction issued by the court, is a public holiday, then by doing so on an official day for the commencement of the work of the court at the earliest, it shall be deemed to have been done within that period
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If a judgement or a court order or any other direction issued by the court mentions a month, it is referred to as a month
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If a court's judgement, order or any other decision specifies that a particular act should be done within a certain period of time, the date of expiry of that period should be specified in the court's decision from the date to the expiry date. If it has to be completed before a certain time of that date, then it should also be explained
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If any document mentions the date set for doing a particular thing, it should be mentioned in the same document
As the rule used to be:
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In cases other than appeals against interim orders and other orders, the appellants get at least 14 days to respond in writing to the appeal charge
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The 30 days available for filing appeals are counted without including official days between the date of disposal of the case and the expiry of the appeal period
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The six-month period for filing appeals is calculated by including official holidays, but the date of disposal of the case and the expiry of the appeal period will not be included
Section 283 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that an appeal can be filed in a high court within 30 days of a decision of a lower court or tribunal. If the appellant proves that the appeal was not filed during that period due to reasons such as non-exercise of personal authority, the lower court has six months from the date of disposal of the case.
