The Supreme Court on Monday instructed its registry to refrain from accepting black-and-white photographs in pleadings unless prior approval is obtained.

A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the longstanding practice of submitting black-and-white photographs has led to blurred images being attached to petitions and pleadings.

"We are observing for a fairly long time that parties take full liberty in placing on record black and white photocopies of photographs, mostly which are blurred. The registry is directed not to entertain hitherto any black and white photographs without prior permission of the Court," it ordered.

The directive was issued during the hearing of a land compensation and rehabilitation case from Daman and Diu. Earlier, on August 20, the same Bench had raised concerns about lawyers relying on "misleading" photographs taken with mobile phones and included in pleadings. This observation came after the Bench noticed certain photos annexed to pleadings in a land encroachment case.

"Mobile se photo liya aur annexure mei laga diya (you took a photo from a mobile and simply attached in an annexure). One day I am going to pass an extremely harsh order against the members of the Bar. All misleading photos filed before this Court. This does not happen in High Courts," Justice Kant had remarked then.

He had suggested that advocates engaging in such practices should face the revocation of their licenses.

"We need to do something. We would have to cancel their license if the Bar members keep doing this," he had said.