New Delhi: The Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the repeated calls by the courts to high officials of the government and termed such a move of the Allahabad High Court as “unnecessary harassment of the officials”. The Supreme Court said that it is ‘shocked’ after considering the order of the High Court and is unable to understand what purpose is being served by calling the officers whereas the Supreme Court has already given an employee of the state government The previous order stayed in the matter related to payment of wages.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta stayed the March 2 order of a single judge of the Allahabad High Court summoning two officers of the Uttar Pradesh government and contempt proceedings were initiated.
In an order passed on Tuesday, the bench said that the apex court has expressed its displeasure on several occasions through judicial pronouncements regarding the practice of unnecessarily summoning officers to court. The bench said that the more rights there are, the more responsibility there should be in the use of them.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government against the March 2 order. The court said that it has issued notice on the appeal filed by the state government on February 22, 2021 and stayed the order of March 5 last year.
The bench noted that following the court’s adjournment order, the High Court commenced contempt proceedings against the two officers on March 2, 2021 for not complying with the order dated March 5, 2020.
