The Centre is working on a revised National litigation Policy to reduce inter-ministerial and inter-departmental disputes and to the extent possible file joint affidavits in cases before the Supreme Court and High Courts.
Union law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda has already written to all Ministries in this regard seeking their opinion. Once the views of all departments will be known, the law Ministry will submit the policy for Cabinet approval.
“I have sought the opinion of various Ministries on the proposed National litigation Policy. Once it is received, we will formulate it and present before Cabinet for approval,” law Minister Gowda said.
The Policy aims to evolve mechanism to reduce pendency of cases. One aspect of it would be aimed at reducing litigation filed by Government bodies. “Of late, statistics suggest that litigation between Government bodies has shown a marked increase. This is one area of concern. Filing of joint affidavits in cases involving multiple Ministries and Government departments is also under consideration,” said a law Ministry official. Another highlight will be to resolve civil disputes through out-of-court settlement.
In 2010, the UPA Government had initiated the National litigation Policy with an aim to reduce average pendency of cases from 15 years to three years and to put a compulsive restraint on Government from approaching the court even for petty claims.
Gowda said, “The new policy will have many improvements over the previous one. We had received many representations on how to curb pendency of cases in courts.” Sources said that the Ministry had even consulted the Solicitor General for his views on streamlining the new litigation Policy.
As arrears are a worry for the Government to tackle, the law Ministry is also aiming to reduce judicial vacancies. The judge strength in High Courts as on November 1, 2014 is 635 with a vacancy position of 349 judges. The Ministry is expected to clear bulk of judicial appointments to bridge this gap. It has further planned digitization of courts, the second phase of which has been commissioned at a cost of `2,765 crore. In addition, the proposal to raise retirement age of HC judges from 62 to 65 is also under active consideration of the law Ministry.
law Minister Gowda also addressed a Press conference on Wednesday where he updated the progress made with regard to constitution of National Judicial Appointments Commission. Three more States including Gujarat Assembly have ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill. Gowda has written to all Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries to clear the Bill at the earliest.