STATE OF GUJARAT v. TURABALI GULAMHUSSAIN HIRANI AND ANR

Citation: [2007] 10 S.C.R. 531

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: A.K. MATHUR, MARKANDEY KATJU

Case summary

STATE OF GUJARAT v. TURABALI GULAMHUSSAIN HIRANI AND ANR.pdf

Judgment text

STAIB OF GUJARAT ,A v. TURABALI GULAMHUSSAIN HIRANtAND ANR. OCTOBER 04, 2007 [A. K. MATHURAND MARKANDEY KATJU, JJ. J Judicialpropriety: Summoningofbureaucrats-Delayo/25 days infilingappealby Government-High Court summoning the Law Secretary and Chief Secretary-Propriety of-Held: Not proper-Such summoning of senior Government officials to be done only in rare and exceptional case when there are compelling circumstances to do so and not in a routine manner-Judicial restraint-Practice andprocedure. The appellant-State had filed an appeal and an application for condoning delay of25 days infiling appeal on the ground that therewas shortage of staff including stenographers in the office of Publi~ Prosecutor. The High Court by ~mpugned order directed the ChiefSecretary and Law Secretary ofthe State Government to be personally present to apprise the Court about effective steps taken by them for providing sufficientstaffto the office ofGovernment Pleader/Public Prosecutor.

Aggrieved appellant-State filed the present appeal. Allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1. The High Courtwas totally unjustified in summoning the Chief Secretary and Law Secretary merely because there was, a delay of25 days in filing the appeal. (Para 4] [534-A, B] ' 2. The High Court has power to summon these officials, but that should be done in very rare and exceptional cases when there are compelling circumstances to do so. Such summoning orders should not be passed lightly or as a routine. (Para 7) (534-F] 3. Judges should have modesty and humility. They should realize that summoning a senior official, except in some very rare and exceptional situation, and that too for compelling reasons, is counter productive and may also involve·heavy expenses and valuable time of the officialconcerned. [Para 8) [534-G,H) 4. The judiciary must have respect for the executive and the legislature. Judges.

should realize that officials like the ChiefSecretary, Secretary to the,government, Commissioners, District Magistrates, senior police officials etc. are extremely busy persons ~h~ a~e often working from morning till night. Nodoubt, theministers lay down the policy, butthe actual implementationofthe policyand day to day running ofthe Government has to be done by the bureaucrats, and hence the bureaucrats are often working round the clock. Ifthey are summoned by the Court they will, ofcourse, appear before the Court, but then a lotofpublic m()l! _ey and time may be unnecessarily wasted. Sometimes High CourtJudges summon·high officials in far offplaces like Director, CBI orHome Secretary to the Government oflndia not realizing that it entails heavy expenditure like ~rranging ofa BSF aircraft, cc;mpled with public money and valuable time which would have been otherwise spent on public welfare. (Para 9) (535-A, B, C] 5.

Hence, frequent, casual and lackadaisical summoning ofhigh officials by the Court cannot be appreciated. TheCourtis constrained to make these observations because in large number ofcases where such ordenfor summoningofhigh officials are being passed by the High Courts, it is nothing but for the ego satisfaction ofthe Judge. [Para 10) [535-D, E] 6. This does not mean that in no circumstances should an official be summoned by the Court. In some extremeand compellingsituation that. may bedone, but on such occasions also the senior official must be givenproperrespect by the Courtand he should not be humiliated. Such senior officials need not be made to stand all the time when the hearing is going on, and they can be offered a chair by the Court to sit. They STATE v. 1URABALI GULAMHUSSAIN HIRANI [KATJU, J. ] 533 need to stand onlywhen answeringormaking a statementin the Court.

The senior officials too have their self-respect, and if the Court gives them respect they in tumwill respect the Court. Respectbegets respect. [Para 11] [535-F, F, G] 7. There was no occasion or reason for the learned Judge to summon the ChiefSecretary or the Law Secretary by the impugned order. Ifthe learned Judge was concerned about the lack ofenough ) Stenographers in the officeofthe Public Prosecutorhe could have called theAdvocateGeneral orGovt Advocate to his chamber and have asked him to conveythe Court's displeasure to the government, but there was no need to summon the ChiefSecretary or Law Secretary. [Para 13] [534-D, E] CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 1338of2007. From the Judgment and final Order dated 11. 4. 2007 ofthe High Court ofGujarat at Ahmedabad in Criminal Misc. Application No. 13747 of2005 in Criminal Appeal No. 728 of2005. Hemantika Wahi, Pinky and Shivangi for the Appellant. The Judgment ofthe Court was delivered by MARKANDEY KATJU, J. 1.

Leave granted. 2. This appeal has been filed against the impugned interim order dated 11. 4. 2007 of the Gujarat High Court in Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 13747/2005 in Criminal Appeal No. 728/2005. 3. A perusal ofthe impugned interim order shows that a Criminal Appeal was filed with a delay of25 days. The learned Judge ofthe Gujarat High Court (Hon'ble R. S. Garg, J. ) on the application for condonation ~ ofdelay in filing the appeal passed the impugned order directing the Chief Secretary and Law Secretary ofthe Gujarat government to be personally present before him on 20. 4. 2007 "so that the Court may have a direct dialogue with them that what effective steps they are taking to provide sufficient staffto the office ofthe Government Pleader/Public Prosecutor andto avoid delay at·every stage". It may be mentioned thaHhereason >-given for the delay of 25 days was the shortage of staff including stenographers in the office ofthe Public Prosecutor. 4.

In our opinion, the learned Judge of Gujarat High Court was totally unjustified in summoning the Chief Secretary and Law Secretary merely because there was a delay of25 days in filing the appeal. It may be mentioned that the same Hon'ble Judge (Hon. R. S Garg, J. ) in several other cases also summoned the Chief Secretary to appear before him personally. Thus, in Special Civil Application Nos. 13969/1993 and 6896/ 1993 titled Gujarat Hotels Ltd. & Ors. v. State ofGujarat & Ors. , dated 18. 1. 2007 he summoned the Chief Secretary to appear before him personally. That case related to an incentive scheme of the State government for attracting new entrepreneurs. 5. In another case, Special Civil Application No. 8209/1998 titled D· Gujarat Revenue Tribunal v. A. K. Chakraborty, ! AS, the Bench of Hon'ble R. S. Garg and Hon'ble M. R. Shah, JJ. by an order dated J... 28. 2. 2007 ordered the Chief Secretary to be personally present on 6. 3.

2007 "so that the Court may discuss the niceties with him and may ask him certain questions hovering in the mind ofthe Court". 6. A large number ofcases have come up before this Court where we find that learned Judges ofvarious High Courts have been summoning the Chief Secretary, Secretaries to the government (Central and State), Director Generals ofPolice, Director, CBI or BSF or other senior officials ofthe government. 7. There is no doubt that the High Court has power to summon these officials, but in our opinion that should be done in very rare and exceptional cases when there are compelling circumstances to do so. Such summoning orders should not be passed lightly or as a routine or at the drop~a~. ~ 8. Judges should have modesty and humility. They should realize that summoning a senior official, except in some very rare and exceptional situation, and that too for compelling reasons, is counter productive and may also involve heavy expenses and valuable time of the official .

, STATE v. TIJRABALI GULAMHUSSAIN HIRANI [KATJU, J. ] 535 concerned. 9. The judiciary must have respect for the executive and the legislature. Judges should realize that officials like the Chief Secretary, Secretary to the government, Commissioners, District Magistrates, senior police officials etc. are extremely busy persons who are often working from morning till night. No doubt, the ministers lay down the policy, but the actual implementation of the policy and day to day running of the government has to be done by the bureaucrats, and hence the bureaucrats are often working round the clock. Ifthey are summoned by the Court they will, of course, appear before the Court, but then a lot of public money and time may be unnecessarily wasted.

Sometimes High Court Judges summon high officials in far offplaces like Director, CBI or Home Secretary to the Government ofIndia not realizing that it entails heavy expenditure like arranging ofa BSF aircraft, coupled with public money and valuable time which would have been otherwise spent on public welfare. 10. Hence, frequent, casual and lackadaisical summoning ofhigh officials by the Court cannot be appreciated. We are constrained to make these observations because we are coming across a large number ofcases where such orders summoning ofhigh officials are being passed by the· High Courts and often it is nothing but for the ego satisfaction of the learned Judge. 11. We do not mean to say that in no circumstances and on no occasion should an official be summoned by the Court. In some extreme and compelling situation that may be done, but on such occasions also the senior official must be given proper respect by the Court and he should not be humiliated.

Such senior officials need not be made to stand all the time when the hearing is going on, and they can be offered a chair by the Court to sit. They need to stand only when answering or making a statement in the Court. The senior officials too have their self-respect, and ifthe Court gives them respect they in tum will respect the Court. Respect begets respect. 12. It sometimes happens that a senior official may not even know \ about the order ofthe High Court. For example, ifthe High Court stays >- . the order ofthe Collector ofsuspension ofa class-III orclass IV employee in a government department, and certified copy ofthat order is left with the Clerk in the office ofthe Collector, it often happens that the Collector is not even aware ofthe order as he has gone on tour and he may come to know about it only after a few days. In the meantime a contempt of court notice is issued against him by the Court summoning him to be personally present in Court.

In our opinion, this should not be readily done, because there is no reason why the Collector would not obey the order ofthe High Court. In such circumstances, the Court should only request the government counsel to inform the concerned Collector about the earlier order ofthe Court which may not have been brought to the notice ofthe Collector concerned, and the High Court can again list the case after a week or two. Almost invariably it will be found that as soon as the Collector comes to know about. the stay order ofthe High Court, he orders compliance ofit. 13. In the present case, we find no occasion or reason for the learned Judge to summon the Chief Secretary or the Law Secretary by the impugned order. Ifthe learned Judge was concerned about the lack of enough Stenographers in the office ofthe Public Prosecutor he could have called the Advocate General or Govt. Advocate to his chamber and have m;!

(ed him to convey the Court's displeasure to the government, but where was the need to summon the Chief Secretary or Law Secretary ? Hence, we set aside the impugned interim order dated 11. 4. 2007 and condone the delay of25 days in filing the appeal before the High Court. The High Court may now proceed to hear the Criminal Appeal in accordance with law. The appeal is allowed. 14. The Secretary General ofthis Court is directed to circulate a copy ofthis judgment to the Registrar Generals/Registrars ofall the High Courts, who shall circulate copies of the said judgment to all Hon'ble Judges ofthe High Courts. D. G. Appeal allowed.