Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 26

Coming down heavily on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for indulging in excessive litigation in settled matters, the Supreme Court had asked the government to wake up to its duties and responsibilities to the justice delivery system.“The couldn’t-care-less and insouciant attitude of the Union of India with regard to litigation, particularly in the Supreme Court, has gone a little too far,” a Division Bench comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta ruled on April 24 while imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the government for a second time within a few weeks.Dismissing an appeal filed by the MoD in a disability related case of Prithwi Singh, a resident of Bhiwani in Haryana who had been granted relief by the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Bench observed that several similar matters had been disposed of by the top court earlier and even a fine of Rs 1 lakh had been imposed last month to ensure the Union of India was far more circumspect.“The Union of India must appreciate that by pursuing frivolous or infructuous cases, it is adding to the burden of this court and collaterally harming other litigants by delaying hearing of their cases through the sheer volume of numbers,” the Bench said.To make matters worse, the Bench pointed out, 10 lawyers, including an additional solicitor general and a senior advocate, were engaged in this case. “The Union of India has created a huge financial liability by engaging so many lawyers for an appeal whose fate can be easily imagined on the basis of existing orders of dismissal in similar cases. Yet the Union of India is increasing its liability and asking the taxpayers to bear an avoidable financial burden for the misadventure,” the Bench ruled.The Bench observed that the government’s own action plan, which has been hanging fire for several years, mentions among others, steps to avoid unnecessary filing of appeals in routine matters and that vexatious litigation should be immediately withdrawn. It hoped that someday some sense will prevail on the Union of India with regard to the formulation of a realistic and meaningful National Litigation Policy.