Delay in court orders will not be tolerated anymore! Gujarat government has set a new SOP for officers.

Gujarat High Court SOP: The Government of Gujarat has taken a very important decision to make the administrative structure of the state more transparent, accountable and fast. Often there is unnecessary delay by the government departments in implementing the orders of the High Court, due to which the government has to face an embarrassing situation of 'Contempt of Court'. To find a permanent solution to this problem, the state government has put in place a strict and clear 'Standard Operating Procedure' (SOP) for all the administrative departments. Under this new system, the orders of the court will have to be mandatorily acted upon within the stipulated timeframe

Leadership and the objective of the new policy

Chief Minister Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel and under the direct leadership of Deputy Chief Minister and Law Minister Shri Harsh Sanghvi and Minister of State for Law Shri Kaushik Vekaria. This step has been taken to ensure strict compliance of the directions of the circular issued by the Law Department on 29th June 2024. The main objective of this new working system is to make the administrative work time-bound.

Acceptance of judgment or clarification on appeal

According to the new SOP, when a High Court judgment comes, the concerned department will immediately have to choose one of two clear options instead of keeping it pending in the files:

If the judgment is acceptable: If the Department accepts the court's decision, it will immediately start implementation without any delay as per the procedure laid down by the Department of Finance.

Appeal: If the department finds it appropriate to appeal against the judgment to the higher court, the litigation proceedings should be initiated within the stipulated time frame after preparing a departmental opinion, in consultation with the Law Department<>

e-Sarkar portal and document transparency

appeals. All the documents referred with the details entered in the e-file will have to be uploaded mandatorily in the 'e-Sarkar' system. The documents will have to be clearly hyperlinked. In addition, a checklist will have to be prepared which needs to be signed by the competent authority. If there is a delay in the process, the reasons for the same should be clearly mentioned in the checklist. This method will prevent correspondence and administrative delays due to incomplete documents

officials who miss the deadline

The most stringent provision in these guidelines is for fixing of liability. The Government has made it clear that unnecessary delays in sending a proposal to the Law Department at the final stage of the deadline will not be tolerated. In case of violation of the prescribed timeline, the officer will be held directly responsible. Not only this, in such a case, the Head of the Department concerned shall ensure strict action against the responsible officer as per the applicable rules.

Time Extension

In some cases, due to practical reasons, such as non-availability of old records or lack of information regarding service of the employee, it is not possible to execute the judgment within the stipulated time. In such circumstances, the Government has clarified that the department concerned will have to stop the practice of waiting till the last minute. Instead, it will be the responsibility of the concerned department to file the 'Miscellaneous Civil Application for Time Extension' in the High Court in a timely manner before the expiry of the time limit given in the original judgment.