Govt taking steps to become a responsible litigant: Gowda

The government is taking various measures to transform itself from being "the biggest litigant" into "a responsible litigant", Minister for Law and Justice D V Sadananda Gowda today said.
"Courts have observed time and again that the government is the biggest litigant and is hampering speedy justice in genuine cases. Our government has an objective of converting the government into a responsible litigant," he said in his keynote at Platinum Jubilee function of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) held here today.
A number of measures are being taken to reduce the litigation from the government's side, he said.
Citing examples of initiatives in this direction, Gowda said CBDT recently issued a circular directing their officers to withdraw all appeals from ITAT where the tax effect is less than Rs 10 lakh.

"I am sure CBDT would come up with many more measures where the litigation can be reduced, including by not filing appeals in small and routine matters," he added.
Highlighting that the income tax law is a complex piece of legislation where there have been frequent amendments, he said, "Even for an expert body like ITAT, there is a strong need for the members and practitioners to constantly update their knowledge to perform the functions assigned to them in an effective manner."

The government would be glad to offer any assistance if the tribunal as an institution feels any necessity to upgrade skills of its members and comes up with a firm proposal in this regard.

On the shortage of staff and members in ITAT, the Union law minister said it functioned with 20 per cent shortage compared with its sanctioned strength of members.
It indicates that ITAT has maintained its rich tradition
of rendering judicious and well-reasoned orders, Gowda added.
ITAT, the minister said, is the oldest quasi-judicial tribunal, rightly termed as 'Mother of all Tribunals'.
However, ever since ITAT was set up in 1941 to decide Income Tax cases under the Income Tax Act, 1922, the process of tribunalisation of the justice system has slowly, but inexorably, grown to cover more and more areas of dispute resolution, he added.

Gowda further said the hallmark of any institution depends on the reputation which it builds over a period and the litmus test is in maintaining consistency of it being fair and judicious, apart from rendering speedy justice.
"In this regard, I must say that the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has steadily but consistently built up its reputation," he said.
The tribunal has a backlog of less than one lakh cases, but a close examination of the details reveals that broadly the appeals, except the cases which are delayed on account of litigants, are disposed of within six months to one year from the date of institution, he added.