Judiciary: Committee of Secy Approves National Litigation Policy
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Framework in Litigation Policy to Cut Govt Litigation
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 28: A committee of secretaries has approved National Litigation Policy. The approval came after months of deliberations. It aims to de-clog judiciary.
The National Litigation Policy is likely to come before the Union Cabinet soon. The policy aims to cut down litigation to de-clog judiciary.
“Stringent parameters have been spelt out in the National Litigation Policy to make litigants clogging the Supreme Court almost tough. Measures are in place for litigants to approach the High Court also,” said a source.
The source stated that the National Litigation Policy “will curb the policy of litigations by the government”. “Almost 85 per cent of judicial pendency is on account of the government litigations. Steps have been listed to mitigate government litigation,” added the source.
Secretaries of the Union Ministries have been mandated under the National Litigation Policy to closely monitor the government litigations. “Mediations have been specified as ways out to deal with the issue of the government litigation. Stringent parameters in the National Litigation Policy will make it very difficult for the government litigation to reach the higher judiciary,” said the source.
The National Litigation Policy will also address litigations involving service personnel. “A major chunk of litigations involving the personnel from paramilitary forces and other services are of the nature of grievances. They will be dealt within a mechanism spelt out in the National Litigation Policy,” added the source.
The National Litigation Policy had previously also been tried. But a draft note put out in the public domain was withdrawn in 2016.
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“There are as many as 44 provisions in the National Litigation Policy which directly address the issue of the government litigation,” the source stated. It also restricts on quantum of adjournments to be availed in litigations.
The National Litigation Policy also mandates constitution of an appraisal of the drafting of the legislations. “The major source of the government litigations has been found to be flaws in the legislations. An independent body appraisal of the draft legislative proposals has been mandated in the National Litigation Policy,” said the source.
It may be noted that the legislative process has been faulted for regular amendments necessitated in parliament after bills are passed. “The vagueness in the legislative processes also give rise to litigations,” added the source.
A status note on the National Litigation Policy in 2016 had stated that “there were as many as 63 pending cases before the Supreme Court alone. Pendency in High Courts was over 44 lakhs. Pendency ran into crores of cases before the lower courts.”
“The National Litigation Policy, if it achieves purposes, will de-clog judiciary and help the people in accessing speedy justice,” said the source. It may be noted that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its Sankalpa Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections had promised a National Litigation Policy.
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