CHENNAI: The government happens to be the largest litigant because of the expanding horizon of activities they are involved in, and there needs to be an alternative dispute resolution mechanism too, said Supreme Court Judge V Ramasubramanian.
Speaking at the third conference of the central government standing counsel of the southern states, Justice Ramasubramanian here on Saturday said: ‘‘About 70 percent litigations are either filed by or against the government and the government needs to set a policy to bring down litigations,’’ the justice said.
Referring to the innovation by the students of the National Law School of India University, who had built a consumer online dispute resolution mechanism, he said innovations on similar lines must be advocated to dispose of litigations.
He said that the Ministries of Defense (MoD) and Finance (MoF) have brought in measures to internally dispose of litigations without involving a third party. ‘‘The MoD has put in place an expert committee to deal with service matters of persons working with the defense ministry. This reduces the number of cases filed,’’ he said, adding that the MoF issues surplus to the withdrawal of cases.
‘‘Any case whose monetary effect is less than one crore is withdrawn from the Supreme Court. This is another good practice too,’’ added justice Ramasubramanian.
The National Highway Authorities of India too has an internal three-tier committee to dispose of cases, he said. ‘‘Claims amounting to 7381 crores were settled for an amount of 729 crores during the year 2017-18 because of the committee,’’ he said.
Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Vineeth Kothari said the government has to take all possible measures by not just reducing the filing of cases but also assist the courts to quickly dispose of cases filed against the government.
‘‘Central government counsels must act as a bridge between the courts and the government," said Justice Kothari, pointing out that their role as officers of the court should not be diluted even when they are performing their duty as central government counsels.
Noted justices, senior counsels and lawyers from across the southern states participated in the two-day conference which will end on Sunday.