Practice of summoning officers by High Courts who passed order impugned in Writ Petitions wrong

The Supreme Court has disapproved the practice of summoning officers by the High Court while considering the writ petitions which impugns the order passed by the said officers.

The said ruling was held in the matter of State of Uttar Pradesh vs. Sudarshana Chatterjee (Civil Appeal No. 9300/2019) decided on 10.12.2019

Challenge

In this case, the Allahabad High Court directed the Principal Secretary, Department of Medical Education and Training to appear in-person and explain how the claim of retiral benefits made by the petitioner was rejected by him.

Held

The Apex Court held that merely because an officer has passed the impugned order, the High Court would be wrong in directing the personal presence of the said officer in the Court and explain as to the reasons in passing the said order.

The Court further observed that the summoning of officers to the court to attend proceedings impinges upon the functioning of the officers and eventually it would be the public at large who would suffer on account of their absence from the duties assigned to them.

It was also held that the practice of summoning officers to court is not proper and does not serve the purpose of administration of justice in view of the separation of powers of the Executive and the Judiciary and that if an order passed is not legal, the Judiciary has ample power to set aside the same in accordance with law.