Action Plan to Reduce Government Litigation

National Litigation Policy

• All States have formulated State Litigation Policies
• NLP is expected shortly
• Provides mechanisms to ensure reduction in government litigation
• Addresses all three stages of dispute, viz. pre- litigation, litigation and post litigation stage
• Emphasis on exploring alternative means of dispute resolution

Status of Government Litigation

• As per the information available on the LIMBS website, as on June 12, 2017, 1,35,060 government cases (increased from 1,33,059 since last meeting on June 8, 2017) and 369 contempt cases were pending
• Railways with 66,685 cases pending has the highest number of pending cases- 10,464 cases are  pending for more than 10 years
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj with 3 pending cases has the least number of pending cases
• LIMBS is a dynamic website, so the data is constantly changing.

• The following table provides the granular details of the number of cases pending in the different
• departments
• The information has been bifurcated into different time periods, i.e. more than 10 years, 5-10 years, 3-5 years and more than 1 year
• This is as per the information available on LIMBS
• There is discrepancy between the data available in the reports generated and the graphs available on LIMBS
• For certain departments, no information is available. They have also been included in the table with the indicator that no report/information is available.

PENDENCY STATUS (11 AM Meeting)

PENDENCY STATUS Contd..

PENDENCY STATUS (12:30 PM Meeting)

PENDENCY STATUS (12:30 PM Meeting Contd..)

STEPS TO REDUCE PENDENCY

• Appointment of a nodal officer in every department at the Joint Secretary Level to coordinate effective resolution of the disputes.
• Nodal Officer to regularly monitor the status of the cases
• Promotion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms- encourage mediation as the preferred form of dispute resolution in service related matters-Appropriate guidelines in this regard may be drafted by the Government
• Avoid unnecessary filing of appeals- appeals should not be filed in routine matters-only in cases where there is a substantial policy matter.
• An Institutional ADR mechanism could be considered for resolution of cases between the government and private bodies. All agreements to mandatorily include a reference to either arbitration or mediation.
• Vexatious litigation should be immediately withdrawn

Online Dispute Resolution

• National Law School of India University, Bangalore in collaboration with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has established an Online Consumer Mediation Centre- Online platform with the motto ‘Anytime Anywhere Dispute Resolution’
• As a pilot programme, it is initially confined to mediation services for consumer disputes in e-commerce only
• Under this, once a complaint is lodged on the online platform, the complaint is forwarded to the company and both parties get 30 days to amicably negotiate and resolve the dispute. If the negotiation fails, then parties can opt for mediation
• The platform then appoints a third party neutral arbitrator- overall a person has 30 days (extendable by another 15 days) from the start of the negotiation process to resolve the dispute.
• This initiative/model may be replicated for resolving government disputes In case of government disputes- a similar platform may be developed wherein the complainant (either an employee or a private) company wil register their complaints

Online Dispute Resolution Contd..

• Once the complaint is registered on the platform then it will be forwarded to the concerned department.
• The nodal officer or a panel of officers as the case may be will be responsible for initiating mediation. The mediation will be conducted through the designated online platform.
• If no settlement is arrived upon within 30 days, then the matter to be referred to arbitration.

Best Practices of Some Ministries/Departments

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