Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has expressed serious concern over some registry staff indulging in the "highly unhygienic" practice of using saliva - particularly when chewing paan or paan masala - to turn pages in court files, leaving reddish stains and posing an infection risk.

A Lucknow bench of Justice Shree Prakash Singh passed an order on September 22 directing the court registry and government law offices not to accept any file found with red marks from saliva.

The order was issued while hearing a petition filed by Krishna Vati and another litigant. As the court took up the file, it immediately noticed reddish saliva marks used for turning pages.

The bench noted that this "disgusting and condemnable" practice could occur when the paper book is prepared by a counsel's clerk, an

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