Overview

• The court directed the Senior Registrar and registry staff to examine documents at filing and refuse any petition, paper book or application bearing saliva spots.
• The Government Advocate and Chief Standing Counsel must issue written instructions in their offices to stop clerks, oath commissioners and staff from using saliva to turn pages.
• Justice Shree Prakash Singh described the practice as highly unhygienic, disgusting and condemnable, warning it could spread infections to anyone handling the papers.
• The order was recorded during a Bahraich land-dispute hearing, where the High Court issued notices and stayed both a December 20, 2022 attachment by the SDM and a March 6, 2025 revisional order until the next listing in October.
• The directive followed observations made on September 22 and lands within a broader push for cleanliness in Uttar Pradesh, with media linking such stains to paan habits and noting assembly fines in March.