‘Make national litigation policy a success’
With the state being the biggest litigant, the government has now decided to put a check on the tendency to go to court on frivolous accounts. For this purpose Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily has written to all fellow ministers in the Union government and various department heads to make the National Litigation Policy a success. As part of the attempt to put a stop to unwarranted litigation the minister has suggested them the appointment of nodal officers in their ministries and
departments with a mandate to monitor the cases as per the new policy and weed out frivolous cases being pursued by them. There are over two crore cases pending in Indian courts, 70 per cent of them involved the government as either petitioners or respondents.
Explaining the spirit behind the move, Dr Moily stated that there were several instances of frivolous cases being pursued by the government causing huge losses to the exchequer and burdening the judicial system. Giving an example he stated that matters relating to individual grievances such as service related pleas, pensions and retirement benefits should not be appealed against. “Such appeals should be avoided as litigation costs in them are much higher than the payoffs,” he said. The National Litigation Policy was unveiled by the minister last month.
“The policy’s aim is to transform government into an efficient and a responsible litigant,” Dr Moily stated.
Post new comment