The Allahabad High Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider holding senior officers answerable for subordinates' lapses.

Senior officers must take responsibility for mistakes of juniors: Court to UP govt

The Allahabad High Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider holding senior officers answerable for subordinates' lapses. The observation came while granting relief to a petitioner denied a passport NOC despite pending cases.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Allahabad High Court suggests UP govt adopt 'superior responsibility' principle
  • Senior officers to be held accountable for subordinates' actions
  • Observation made during petition on passport NOC refusal

In a significant observation, the Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider adopting the principle of "superior responsibility" within the state bureaucracy, saying the time has come for senior officers to be held accountable for the mistakes and actions of their subordinates.

The observation was made by a single-judge bench of Justice Vinod Diwakar while hearing a petition filed by Bareilly resident Awanish Kumar Agarwal in connection to a case that occurred 18 years ago.

The court said greater accountability in the administrative machinery was necessary and observed that senior officials should not be insulated from responsibility when lapses are committed by officers working under them.

The court urged the Yogi Adityanath-led government to adopt the principle of superior responsibility to ensure accountability within the bureaucracy.

The observations came while the court was deciding a petition challenging the refusal to grant a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for passport issuance and renewal.

Allowing the petition, the High Court set aside an order passed by a Special Judge that had denied the NOC on the ground that two criminal cases were pending against the petitioner.

The court directed the Regional Passport Authority, Bareilly, to issue or renew the passport of the petitioner in accordance with the prescribed legal procedure.

WHAT IS THE CASE

According to court records, a commercial tax fraud case was registered against Agarwal nearly 18 years ago.

The FIRs alleged that official documents were destroyed by burning them in connivance with government officials.

Two FIRs in the matter were registered in Bijnor district.

- Ends