If Courts Find Presence Of Govt Officers Necessary, They Should Be Allowed To Appear Virtually At First Instance : Supreme Court

Deprecating the practice of High Courts routinely directing the personal appearance of the government officer, the Supreme Court held that if the High Court found it necessary to direct the presence of the government officer then it should have been first through video conferencing.

Taking reference from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) laid down in the case State of Uttar Padesh & Ors. Vs. Association of Retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges at Allahabad & Ors., the bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta stated that it is specifically provided that in exceptional cases, if the Court finds that the presence of a Government Officer is necessary, then at the first instance, such appearance is permitted through video conferencing.

The Court set aside that part of the Calcutta High Court's order which directed the personal presence of the Jurisdictional Superintendent of Police (SP) before itself without recording the necessary reasons for calling out such personal appearance.

“We further find that the reasons recorded by the High Court for directing the personal presence of the jurisdictional Superintendent of Police cannot be said to be exceptional or rare.”, the court said.

The Court underscored the importance of recording of reasons by the courts for which the government officer is called upon to appear personally.

“It has been further laid down that the Court should also record its reasons as to why the personal presence of the Government Officer in the Court is necessary.”

Earlier in the case of the State of Uttar Pradesh Vs. Manoj Kumar Sharma, the Supreme Court took a strong objection to the practice developed by the High Courts in routinely calling for personal appearances of the government officers in the courts. The court noted that the officers should not be called unnecessarily.

“we feel, it is time to reiterate that public officers should not be called to court unnecessarily. The dignity and majesty of the court is not enhanced when an officer is called to court. Respect to the court has to be commanded and not demanded and the same is not enhanced by calling the public officers. The presence of public officer comes at the cost of other official engagement demanding their attention. Sometimes, the officers even have to travel long distance. Therefore, summoning of the officer is against the public interest as many important tasks entrusted to him get delayed, creating extra burden on the officer or delaying the decisions awaiting his opinion”, the court said in Manoj Kumar Sharma.

Case Title: THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL VERSUS GANESH ROY 

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 324

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