State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors Vs Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma (Supreme Court of India)
It is common knowledge that the Executive has become autocratic and deliberately disobey/discard the declarations of law and directions of the Courts. Consequently, when such matters crop up before the High Courts, they summon the highhanded officials to explain the circumstances as to why they did not comply the earlier orders/directions of the Courts. But, repeated summons of the Courts have a demoralizing & humiliating effect on the executive and should be avoided until it is expedient in the interest of Justice.
The Apex Court recently in the case of State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors Vs. Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma (Civil Appeal No. 2320 of 2021 arising out of S.L.P. (Civil) No. 7487 of 2020) decided on July 9, 2021 had an occasion to deal with such a situation.
The brief facts of the case are that the Respondent Doctor in government service did not join at the place of his transfer posting and carried on his private practice/profession for 13 years deliberately and thereafter demanded arrears of his salary & accrued benefits. Through repeated writs, he managed to obtain favorable orders from the High Court. In Contempt Proceedings, the High Court summoned the Secretary Health for personal appearance although the Apex Court had stayed the operation of the main order. The Apex Court was irked by the contumacious conduct of the Respondent and also pained by the arbitrary summoning of the senior administrative officers especially when the order had been stayed by the Apex Court. The Court deprecated the practice of futile and undesired summoning of the executive and held thus:
“This Court has even on various occasions through judicial pronouncements deprecated the practice of unnecessarily calling officers to Court. In that context, it has been observed that the trust, faith and confidence of the common man in the judiciary cannot be frittered away by unnecessary and unwarranted show or exercise of power. Greater the power, greater should be the responsibility in exercising such power (State of U.P. & Ors. v. Jasvir Singh & Ors. (2011) 4 SCC 288). The frequent, causal and lackadaisical summoning of high officials by the Court cannot be appreciated. We may add that this does not mean that in compelling situations the same cannot be done but the object cannot be to humiliate senior officials. (R.S. Singh v. U.P. Malaria Nirikshank Sangh & Ors (2011) 4 SCC 281)…………
17. A practice has developed in certain High Courts to call officers at the drop of a hat and to exert direct or indirect pressure. The line of separation of powers between Judiciary and Executive is sought to be crossed by summoning the officers and in a way pressurizing them to pass an order as per the whims and fancies of the Court.
