Recently, Supreme Court castigated the Centre for repeatedly filing appeals on identical questions of law despite being fined earlier for clogging the justice delivery system with frivolous cases. It has been observed that nearly 46% of all pending cases in judiciary have been filed by Centre and state governments or has state government as one of the party. This problem has been highlighted even in the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey 2018 points out that the massive litigation by government departments and the resulting lower conviction rates has led to the economy suffering a severe toll in terms of stalled projects, mounting legal costs, contested tax revenues and reduced investment.
Reasons for High Government Litigations
How to Mitigate the Litigation Process
Way Forward
A review of the National Litigation policy is underway, but for it to transform the Indian Government into a “Model Litigant” following critical features are a must:
Madhya Pradesh Litigation Policy 2018 Madhya Pradesh government recently in its Litigation Policy 2018 put the onus on officials if a case is lost or if officials are found pursuing irrelevant litigation cases. This clause though may act as a deterrent in reducing the litigation cases must be used wisely and not arbitrarily. The need of the hour is to understand it is the prerogative of the Income Tax department to file tax related cases and pursue it in public interest, but it must not cause hindrance in justice delivery for ordinary litigants by delaying the hearing of their cases. |