COURTESY  TOI SEPT 12

SC slams govt, babus for case explosion in courts
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:

Riled by repeated breach of promise by the Centre and states to reduce government litigation, the Supreme Court on Friday said the main reason for explosion of litigation in the SC and high courts was the bureaucratic reluctance to take responsibility for deciding not to file appeals.

Deciding a 44-year-old litigation between a government body and the tax department, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Indu Malhotra said the government’s aim should be to do justice to people and not win cases. “The Indian legal system is reeling under a docket explosion. The government and public authorities are active contributories,” it said.

The bench cited famous lawyer Nani Palkhivala’s letter to Soli Sorabjee on his appointment as attorney general in 1989 saying, “The greatest glory of the AG is not to win cases for the government but to ensure that justice is done to people.”

Writing two post-scripts in the judgment on the mechanism needed to reduce government litigation and tax appeals, Justice Kaul said, “One of the main impediments to such a resolution, plainly speaking, is that bureaucrats are reluctant to accept responsibility of taking such decisions, apprehending that at some future date, their decision may be called into question and they may face consequences post retirement.

“In order to make the system function effectively, it may be appropriate to have a committee of legal experts presided by a retired judge to give their imprimatur to the settlement so that such apprehensions do not come in the way of arriving at a settlement. It is our pious hope that serious thought would be given to the aspect of dispute resolution amicably, more so in the post-Covid period.”

The bench added, “One of the largest areas of litigation fis taxation matters. The petition rate of the tax department before the Supreme Court is at 87%. So, the question is, can something be done about it? In our opinion, a vibrant system of advance ruling can go a long way in reducing taxation litigation.”