The Nairobi High Court’s Commercial & Tax Division was set to be fully automated by 18^th March, 2019. This by virtue of a notice issued by the deputy registrar to all litigants in the Commercial & Tax Division. According to the notice, there would have been no further manual registration of cases from 18^th March, 2019.

Previously, all the processes undertaken at the court were manual. Litigants had to physically go to court in order to file their cases and make the necessary payments. Further, service of pleadings required the process servers to move from office to office.

The processes that were to be fully automated include:

1. Registration of new cases;
2. Filing of pleadings;
3. Transcription of proceedings;
4. Assessment of court fees;
5. Payment of Court fees;
6. The court calendar;
7. Searches on the status of cases; and
8. Serving of pleadings.

However, as at 18^th March, 2019, most of these processes had only been partially digitalized while the rest of the processes remained manual. Currently the program is in transition and full implementation will be completed over the next several months. The current situation on the ground is that hard copy pleadings are physically deposited in court for assessment and scanning, the court fees are then paid via M-pesa (a mobile money transfer application) and thereafter the pleadings are served manually. In addition, the status of cases can only be accessed online at the court.

We shall keep you updated on the progress in the automation process.

The e- filing procedures can be found here.

Please contact us at Info@cfllegal.com should you require further information.