Supreme Court issues Standard Operating Procedure to High Courts on summoning of government officials

On January 03, 2024, the Supreme Court (SC) bench consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice Manoj Misra, and Justice J.B. Pardiwala issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to High Courts on ‘arbitrary and frequent’ summoning of government officials. It highlighted that all the courts should follow the issued guidelines to regulate the appearance of government officials. After framing the rules, CJI said, “We have formulated an SOP now whereby government officials will be summoned by courts. This SOP emphasizes is for courts to steer away from the arbitrary summoning of officials ushering in maturity.” Further, the judgment stated, “Power of criminal contempt cannot be invoked against officials of the state of Uttar Pradesh. The frequency of such orders summoning such officials runs contrary to the scheme envisaged by the constitution.” The bench also said, “For summoning government officials, advance notice must be given for adequate preparation and the first option for such an appearance must be through video conferencing.”