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ShareKochi: As part of judicial reforms, the Centre has proposed to formulate a new litigation policy to avoid filing of unnecessary cases, Union law and justice minister M Veerappa Moily said today.
"It is a known fact that the government is one of the biggest ligitants... The Centre is proposing introduction of a litigation policy and the government is to be transformed from a compulsive litigant into a responsible and reluctant litigant," he said at a function here.
The government wanted to ensure that it should go in litigation only where it was necessary.
Observing that not many cases were pending before the apex courts of London and South Africa, Moily said he wanted to ensure that the government shed its tag of being the biggest litigant within next three years. "Government should become the thinnest litigant and we are working towards it."
The Centre was collecting data from its departments and state governments regarding cases pending in courts and tribunals, he said. "we will anyalyse these cases and take necessary corrective steps."
He was speaking at the valedictory function of a legal workshop for Central Government counsels, HoDs and Officers in-charge of Central government cases within the jurisdiction of Kerala high court.
Moily said the government proposed to create a society or a special purpose vehicle, which will have a dedicated fund for the construction of buildings, infrastructure both soft and hard to equip the court with the state-of-art technology.
A state-or-the-art Central Agency Office will be established attached to the Supreme Court to coordinate and monitor cases, he said.
Kerala high court chief justice SR Bannurmath emphasised the need for coordination between government officials of different departments as well as the standing counsels.
TPM Ibrahim Khan, assistant solicitor general of India and chairman of Action Committee for supreme court bench in South India, appealed to the law minister to initiate steps for the establishment of a Bench of the apex court in southern states.
It was very difficult for a common litigant of South India to approach Supreme Court for the redressel of grievenaces, he said. Khan also submitted a memorandum in this connection to Moily.
Various recommendations and suggestions made at the workshop included starting a liaison office or a Sub Branch Office of the ministry of law and Justice in the Kerala high court in order to streamline and coordinate the court cases on behalf of the Centre.
