Excessive Government Litigation Clogs India’s Judicial System

Source: The post excessive government litigation clogs India’s judicial system has been created, based on the article “We need to reduce government litigation to ease judicial delays” published in “Live Mint” on 23rd August 2024

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 – Indian Polity – Judiciary

Context: The article discusses how inefficient judicial processes and excessive government litigation create delays, raise costs, and hinder business. It emphasizes the need for effective judicial reforms and policies to reduce unnecessary government litigation, improve case management, and ensure better implementation of existing litigation policies.

For detailed information on Issues with the justice system in India read this article here

What Are the Current Challenges with Judicial Processes in India?

1. Prolonged Case Durations: Inefficient judicial processes cause delays, as seen in the “Tareekh pe Tareekh” scenario, leading to prolonged uncertainties for all parties involved.
2. High Litigation Costs: These delays escalate litigation costs, discouraging investment and stifling business operations.
3. Excessive Government Litigation: The government is the biggest litigator in India, involved in 46% of all cases, as noted by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in 2019. This excessive involvement not only drains resources but also clogs the judicial system, making it difficult to resolve disputes efficiently.
4. Risk Aversion in Bureaucracy: Bureaucratic hesitation leads to unnecessary litigation, even in minor cases, as evidenced by appeals involving amounts less than ₹1000.
5. Weak Implementation of Policies: The National Litigation Policy (NLP) introduced in 2010 lacked effective implementation, contributing to persistent judicial inefficiencies.
6. Overloaded Government Departments: Ministries like Finance, Railways, and Defence have thousands of pending cases, further straining the judicial system.

What Steps Have Been Taken to Reduce Frivolous Litigation?

1. Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS): Established in 2016 and updated in 2019, LIMBS serves as a unified platform to monitor legal cases involving the Government of India across all its ministries and departments. LIMBS aims to streamline case management and reduce the backlog within government litigation.
2. Efforts to minimize baseless litigation include the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) raising the monetary thresholds for appeals, aiming to focus on more significant cases.
3. In the Union Budget 2024-25, thresholds increased to ₹60 lakhs, ₹2 crores, and ₹5 crores for tax tribunals, high courts, and the Supreme Court, respectively.

What Policies Are Proposed to Improve Litigation Practices?

1. National Litigation Policy (NLP) 2010: Aimed to make the government an efficient and responsible litigant, but lacked concrete thresholds and effective enforcement, leading to poor implementation.
2. NLP 2024: Announced by the law minister, this policy focuses on overcoming previous shortcomings with robust implementation mechanisms, measurable targets, penalties for non-compliance, and strict limits on government appeals.
3. Data-Driven Management: Utilization of systems like LIMBS to monitor and manage government litigation effectively.

Question for practice:

Discuss how excessive government litigation impacts the efficiency of the judicial system in India and what steps have been taken to address this issue.