The Delhi high court on Friday quashed a trial court order summoning the DDA vice-chairman to depose before it in a 16-year-old case against the housing body’s officials for their alleged role in illegal allotment of government land to a private firm.
Justice Suresh Kait quashed the November 11 summons of additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) to DDA vice-chairman G.S. Patnaik with relevant records on December 3, saying it was not warranted.
The high court stayed the trial court order, accepting the plea by Patnaik’s counsel that he had not been posted with the DDA in any capacity in May 1995 when the land measuring 2,548 square metres was allotted to a private company by the agency.
“The petitioner (Patnaik) is a senior IAS officer of DDA. His duties include, inter alia, policy decisions and overall supervision of the DDA,” pleaded Patnaik’s counsel Najmi Waziri, seeking quashing of the trial court’s order.
“He is not the custodian of the records nor is he familiar with the facts of the original complaint case. The summoning of the petitioner, therefore, is not warranted,” the DDA vice-chairman’s counsel Najmi Waziri said.
The high court stayed the trial court’s order, also quoting a Supreme Court verdict of January this year, which deprecated the tendency of the courts to summon senior government officials at the drop of a hat.
It said the apex court had ruled that such frequent summoning of senior government officials, throwing off balance their busy administrative schedule, was misuse of judicial power.