National Litigation Policy 2015 to be implemented soon, says Gowda

Economically and socially weaker sections of the society are suffering due to higher cost of litigation, the Union Law Minister said

The National Litigation Policy 2015, aimed at reducing the pending cases in various courts in India, would be implemented soon, said Union Minister for Law and Justice D V Sadananda Gowda. The Ministry is planning to move a cabinet note for approval within 15 days, he said.

Speaking atn the Lawyers' Meet 2015, organised by Bar Council of India in collaboration with Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and the Bar Council of Puducherry, Gowda said that the policy is ready with the government and the inter-ministerial consultations are completed.

He said that the policy would reduce the trivial litigations in which the government is also a party. "This would make the government a responsible litigant, which could use alternate dispute resolution mechanisms to bring an end to various litigations. This could help reduce the number of cases to an extent," he said.

"A large share of the population cannot afford the system of having the best lawyer and the government alone may not be able to tackle this issue. The legal fraternity has to come forward and think about this," he added.

In such situations, the National Litigation Policy would help to reduce the number of cases, thus reducing the burden of the judicial system, which currently has to deal with a large number of cases.

He added that the government is taking steps to change the name of Madras High Court to Chennai High Court.