Govt shuns plan to bring national litigation policy; issues directives to ministries on ways to cut down court cases

New Delhi, Sep 28 (PTI) The government has shunned the idea of bringing a national litigation policy that was in the works for years, and instead issued directives to Union ministries, departments and PSUs on ways to cut down on court cases.

Seeking to shed the tag of being the biggest litigant, the Union government has been working on a comprehensive policy to cut down on cases where it, its departments or PSUs are a party.

But after a lot of thinking, the Union law ministry has finally junked plans to bring out a national litigation policy as the thought prevailed that the government cannot have a policy on curbing litigations as it can't stop people at large from filing cases.

"The term policy cannot be used if it is applicable only on the government, its ministries and departments and not on private litigations.

"Something which is not universally applicable cannot be termed as policy...curbing government litigation is a very inward looking move," a top ministry functionary told PTI.

The official pointed out that the term directive has been used as it has a "sense of force" and words like guideline were avoided as they are "generic" in nature. Another key reason for not bringing a policy was that it needs approval of the Union Cabinet. Any tweaks in it in the future would have required Cabinet approvals.

The "Directive for the efficient and effective management of litigation by the Government of India" issued by the Department of Legal Affairs in the law ministry was cleared by a committee of secretaries and will be reviewed annually for progress made and changes required.

According to the directive issued in April, the objective of the various decisions and actions is to promote public good and better governance.

"Sometimes their ineffective implementation may lead to the exclusion of intended beneficiaries or the unintended ones being benefited." In some cases, affected parties may perceive certain decisions as unfair and pursue legal recourse through litigation," it said highlighting the importance of effective implementation of decisions by central ministries, departments and PSUs. The central government is a party in nearly seven lakh cases pending across courts, according to official data.

Minimising "unwarranted appeals" in courts and addressing "inconsistencies in notifications and orders" that lead to court cases are the key measures proposed by the ministry.

The law ministry had in February told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre is a party in nearly seven lakh cases pending across courts, with the finance ministry alone being of the litigants in nearly two lakh cases.

Citing data available on the Legal Information Management & Briefing System (LIMBS), Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had said, "There are about seven lakh cases pending where the Government of India is a party. Out of these, in about 1.9 lakh cases the Ministry of Finance is mentioned as a party".

The directive aims to introduce stringent measures to simplify legal procedures, prevent unnecessary litigation, address inconsistencies in notifications and orders, and minimise unwarranted appeals.

The national litigation policy has been drafted and redrafted over several years with successive governments deliberating on its contours.

Now finally a set of directives have been issued.

In the UPA II, the then law minister M Veerappa Moily came out with a national litigation policy but it never went forward. While Moily had come out with the policy, he did not send it for the Union Cabinet's approval.

Later, when the document went to the Cabinet, no decision was taken on it.

An official statement issued on June 23, 2010, said the Centre has formulated a national litigation policy to reduce cases pending in various courts in India under the National Legal Mission to reduce the average pendency time from 15 years to three years.

According to the 'vision' of the 2010 policy, it was based on the recognition that the government and its various agencies are the pre-dominant litigants in courts and tribunals in the country. PTI NAB DV DV