40% litigation by Centre, state governments frivolous: SC
The Supreme Court on Monday remarked that 40% of litigations by the Central and state governments are frivolous. The statement came during a hearing before a bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol to discuss a service matter. It said the government was "filing to deny Rs. 700 per month to someone and spending Rs. 7 lakhs of taxpayer money."
Why does this story matter?
The SC has repeatedly told the government not to clog the justice delivery system by overburdening it with frivolous lawsuits, which have already been dismissed. Government litigations not only come at the cost of taxpayers' money but also delay the judicial system's functioning for common litigants. Reportedly, over 3.2 crore cases are pending before the SC, high courts, and subordinate courts combined.
Adopt mediation, instead of litigation: CJI to government
Last month, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud advised the Centre to resolve legal disputes through mediation rather than litigation. He said that mediation involves resolving disagreements by bringing the various stakeholders together and finding common ground. "The motto of the Union government and its agencies should be 'mediate, not litigate'," he said.
Government must adopt the robes of a friend: CJI
He said that as the largest litigator in the country, when the government mediates, it sends a message that it is not an adversary of the citizens. "The government must adopt the robes of a friend, a partner and a problem solver," the CJI added.
Centre repeatedly filed identical questions despite being fined
In 2018, an SC bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta rapped the Centre for repeatedly filing appeals on identical questions of law, which the court had already dismissed and fined the government for. The bench emphasized the formulation of a proper national litigation policy to streamline the government's system of litigation, referring to the Centre's National Legal Mission (NLM) from 2010.
NLM was supposed to be reformulated in 2015
Notably, the NLM sought to reduce the average pendency of cases from 15 years to three years. The SC said that the NLM was supposed to be reviewed and reformulated in 2015. However, it observed that the NLM wasn't implemented, "indicating not only the Union government's lack of concern for the justice delivery system but scant regard for its own policy."
