Supreme Court: ‘Should avoid summoning government officials’; Court issued SOP on coming to court and giving testimony

The Supreme Court has said that calling government officials in the courts should be avoided. The court made it clear that summoning government officials as a first resort is not an ideal approach. Asking them to appear again and again without proper reason cannot be accepted. The court said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) has been prepared earlier regarding production of government officials in the court, which should be followed. This decision came on the appeal of Uttar Pradesh government. The government had challenged the order of Allahabad High Court.

Instead of trusting government lawyers, summons is not right
The top court said that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding summoning of government officials has been prepared for courts across the country. The courts should follow these. In the Supreme Court, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra said that instead of relying on lawyers or law officers representing the government, summoning the officials or ordering them to appear physically in the court. It is against the plan conceived and laid down in the Constitution of the country.