Haryana announces State Litigation Policy - 2010

The Haryana State Litigation Policy — 2010, approved by the state government, seeks to minimise litigation by putting in place an effective complaints redressal mechanism system in the state departments and transform the government into an efficient and responsible litigant which manages litigation in a coordinated and time-bound manner.

With its roots in the national concern over the mounting number of cases in the courts, and drawing largely on the National Litigation Policy, the Haryana policy aims at bringing about a visible, enduring, qualitative and quantitative improvement in the manner in which litigation is perceived, managed and conducted in the state.

Outlining broad contours of the policy here today, an official spokesman said it revolved around some key strategies to streamline and minimise litigation. These include better decision making, quick response to representations, and managing litigation through IT-based decision support system, capacity building, review and dispute settlements and improving infrastructure, quality of manpower, system and procedures.

The need for the policy stems from the national concern that pendency and delays in the courts should be reduced proactively by the government.

It would be mandatory for employees to seek redressal through this system, first, before going to the courts.

A time limit of eight weeks might be fixed to decide a representation for which a two-tier structure would be setup.

It draws largely upon the National Litigation Policy published by the Union Ministry of Law. Such provisions as these, applicable to the state, have been incorporated in this policy.

The spokesman said the policy sought to transform government into an efficient and responsible litigant which managed and conducted litigation in a collusive, coordinated and time-bound manner, ensuring good cases were won and bad cases not pursued needlessly, and reduced overall government litigation load, providing relief to the judiciary. Further, it aspires to encourage and enable the redressal of genuine grievances through alternate dispute redressal forums and institutions within the government.

The State Level Empowered Committee, Department Level Policy Implementation Committees, and District Level Policy Implementation Committees would be formed under the policy.

The spokesman said all departments would setup effective grievance-redressal committees which would pre-empt lot of unnecessary and unwanted litigation.