Government will do well to set its house in order first. It’s tough, but not impossible
A recent report by the Union law Ministry, which states that Governments, both at the Central and State levels, are the biggest litigator in various courts is not surprising. That Government-related litigation is one of the most serious contributors in the pendency of cases, is known. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself, on numerous occasions, lamented about the lack of coordination between different offices within the Government, which compels them to settle matters in the courts. The Supreme Court too has time and again intervened to pull up successive Governments for being callous and mechanical in pursuing litigation. The law Commission on its part has been making several recommendations on this front. It is unfortunate that the Indian state itself is a major contributor towards an overburdened judiciary. Statistics put by the law Ministry are shocking. The Union Government alone has 1,35,060 lawsuits across the country. The rule of the law is the very basis for the existence of a state, society, and also civilisation. It is, therefore, a given that it is the responsibility of the state and also the citizens of the country to protect and uphold the core values of the rule of the law. What is most dangerous for a state is a creaking judiciary. Put in the Indian context, the wheels of the justice system are moving, but steadily. Several factors have led to this situation. The system is mired with an appalling judge to population ratio; there are crippling vacancies; pendency of cases has been ever-growing. This has led to a situation where justice has often been delayed to an extent that it has been almost denied. What is most appalling is that, besides becoming a constraint on the public exchequer, litigations create judicial backlog.
However, it would be wrong to say that Governments have not been making attempts to clear litigations. The UPA Government, when in power, had made a serious attempt to roll out a National litigation Policy (NlP). However, the concept failed to see the light of the day as it was too ambiguous. Fresh efforts were then made to revive this policy by the Modi Government. To this end, the NDA Government's thrust has been dynamic. last year, the Government launched a legal information management and briefing system to efficiently monitor Government litigations online. To facilitate a smooth functioning of the judiciary, the NDA regime took a progressive step to scrap about more than 1,200 archaic and obsolete laws which had lost relevance. But a mere repeal of laws or the establishment of a watchdog may not be sufficient. There is but a long way to go for the Government to fight the battle within its own workplace. Though the Government has been encouraging its agencies to opt for out-of-court-settlement of disputes, more needs to be done. However, it would be unfair to just blame the Government for this precarious situtaion. On its part, the judiciary too needs to set its own house in order.