A touch of humanity:Veteran Prabhjot Singh ChhatwalPLS Retd.

Dear Veterans

Law Minister re-emphasises that Govt would soon be a ‘responsible’ and ‘reluctant’ litigant
As this news-report would signify, sometimes our Hon’ble Courts are burdened with unnecessary litigation. Filing of cases and appeals, especially in employee and pension related matters, becomes more of a power-ego-play for departments rather than a vehicle of justice. Serving and former staff members of govt related organisations who approach Hon’ble Courts for justice are often seen as enemies of the system rather than aggrieved persons seeking application of the principles of fairness.With this background, the speech of our Law Minister in the recently concluded ‘All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal’ comes as a welcome step. Here are a few excerpts from the same :“…You must be aware that we are progressing towards bringing judicial reforms. One of the agenda before the Government is that we want to remove the tag of 'biggest litigant'. We are formalizing the policy of Government litigation. We are collecting data from all the Departments of the Government regarding cases pending in the Courts and Tribunals. We will analyze those cases and take necessary corrective steps. Our efforts are that Government should go in litigation only where it is necessary. Unnecessary appeals should not be filed on behalf of the Government. Soon we will formalize our policy…”“…The Central Government is proposing the introduction of a litigation policy. The government is to be transformed from a compulsive litigant into a responsible and reluctant litigant. An action plan in this behalf will be launched separately. It has a two pronged approach - identifying and removing ‘useless’ cases which are burdening the docket. This should be done at the earliest…”“…The present system viz ‘let the Tribunal decide every case’ must be eliminated. Setting up of Empowered Government Committees to eliminate unnecessary litigation need to be considered…”
A very good approach indeed. Hope it translates into action on the ground !
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh at 5:20 AM 8 comments