Supreme Court Issued Guidelines To High Court’s On Summoning Govt Officials, Says Personal Presence Should Be Exceptional

The Supreme Court in the case State of Uttar Pradesh v. Association of Retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges observed and has addressed the issue of 'arbitrary and frequent' summoning of government officials by the Courts.

The Supreme Court in the case issued the guidelines to the High Courts on January 02, 2024.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra in the case observed and has framed the Standard Operating Procedure, SOP on summoning of government officials and directed that all High Courts should follow it. Thus, all the High Courts should consider framing rules to regulate the appearance of officials after taking into account the SOP.

The Highlights of the Standard Operating Procedure, SOP are:

 ●The personal presence may be required in evidence-based adjudication, summary proceedings and non-adversarial proceedings i.e., where the Court requires assistance on complex policy issues and other than such cases, if the said issues can be addressed through affidavits and other documents, personal presence may not be necessary and should not be directed as a routine measure.

 ●The court directed the presence of a government official in cases where the Court is prima facie satisfied that specific information is not being provided or is intentionally withheld or if the correct position is suppressed or misrepresented.

 ●The court should not direct the presence of the official solely because the stand of the official in the affidavit differs from the court's view. Thus, in such kind of cases, if the matter can be resolved through existing records, the issue be decided on merits accordingly.