Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar has emphasized the pressing need for mediation in government-related disputes, pointing out that close to half of all pending litigation in the country involves either the Union or State governments and statutory authorities. According to him, this accounts for nearly 46.78% of India’s total caseload, making the State the single largest litigant in the judicial system.
Speaking at the National Mediation Conference 2025 in Bhubaneswar, Justice Kumar highlighted how excessive caution and bureaucratic delay often result in enormous financial losses to the public exchequer. He recalled a land acquisition matter from Karnataka where timely settlement with over 390 landowners saved the government about ₹280 crores, whereas prolonging litigation could have cost an additional ₹400 crores.
In another example, he noted a case where an initial award of ₹23,000 under land acquisition laws ballooned into ₹1.85 lakh due to decades of delay. Despite the government already paying ₹72 lakh, execution petitions remained unresolved. During the COVID-19 period, after being shown the massive backlog of similar cases, the Chief Secretary agreed to deposit ₹56 crores to settle nearly 7,000 such matters in one go.
Justice Kumar stressed that these instances show how mediation could prevent unnecessary litigation, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. He also referred to the Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS), a government portal that tracks pending cases, as a step in the right direction but insisted that genuine commitment to alternative dispute resolution is essential.
Justice Kumar said, the government could shift from being the country’s biggest litigant to becoming a model of effective conflict resolution, ultimately easing the burden on courts and delivering faster justice.