The huge pendency of cases in Indian courts has denied fast track justice to litigants. There are around 60,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court. The 24 high courts in India are yet to dispose of 45 lakh cases between them, while for the trial courts the figure is mammoth—around 2.75 crore. Put together, the numbers add up to around 3.25 crore.
By Himanshu Pandey
Government is the largest litigant in India and moves court on the slightest pretext. Almost half the total cases pending in Indian courts have government as one of the respondents.
It was in this context that a need was felt for a national litigation policy so that litigations from government could be brought down eventually. The idea was to make the government a “responsible” and “efficient” litigant. The policy was formulated in 2010 and launched the same year by the UPA government.
However, the policy was not successful in bringing down the pendency of cases. The backlog kept on piling both in the Supreme Court as well as in other courts of India.
The NDA government made changes in NLP 2010 and brought in a new policy in 2015.
However, both the UPA and the NDA governments have failed to radically transform the NLP, keeping in mind the evolving technology changes and their potential.
Even after announcing initiatives like Digital India and Internet of Things (IoT) policy that are technology dependent, NLP has failed to address pendency as it is not technology-driven and does not encourage the use of online dispute resolution (ODR) and setting up of E-courts In India.
However, the centre is planning to amend the arbitration law of India and this may spur the use of ODR in India as well.
Moreover, those critically examining NLP 2015 feel it has not addressed litigations related to the banking sector. This is despite the fact that the law ministry has specified that all government organizations should be part of the policy.
According to sources, the Department of Banking Operations and Development in the RBI’s central office, Mumbai, told an RTI activist that it does not have any information on how the RBI plans to implement the NLP.
The NDA government, while revising the policy, had mentioned that any litigation arising between government and PSUs will first be addressed at the government level before taking it to the court.
Despite efforts made by the government and courts to reduce pendency, the fact that 24 high courts were functioning with 43 percent vacancies in January 2016, with only 599 judges, as against a sanctioned strength of 1,044, portends ominous signs.
According to a report from a Bangalore-based NGO, Daksh, the average pendency of a case at the Allahabad High Court is over three-and-a-half years—the worst in India. The Bombay High Court, at 1,245 days, stands second. The study, which looked at 21 high courts across India, also revealed that the oldest case still to be disposed of was registered on January 1, 1959.