Govt to maintain centralised data on pending litigations

Despite being perceived as the biggest litigant, the government does not maintain a centralised data of pending cases where it is a party.
But this is now set to change as the Law Ministry has embarked upon an ambitious project to streamline litigation related data and make it available at a single point.
The Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS) conceived by the Law Ministry can capture information pertaining to different courts and tribunals and categorise them into various sets of management information system reports for concerned officials to take action.
It can send reminders through SMS to official to provide alerts about particular cases coming up for hearing.

Law Secretary P K Malhotra has urged other Union Secretaries appoint a joint secretary level officer as the project coordinator to implement LIMBS.
"... This department (Legal Affairs) is mandated to give legal advice to all government departments on the issues raised by them and also advise them on litigation matters conducted on behalf of Union of India.

"However, the court cases are monitored by the concerned departments and there is no centralised system for collecting information with regard to pendency and status of these cases... Centralised data to this effect is not available," he wrote.
According to a status note on the National Litigation Policy pending before the Union Cabinet for approval, "government enjoys the dubious distinction of being the largest litigant in the courts involving a big draught on public exchequer."

Though there are no official estimates, the Law Ministry believes government is a party in 46 per cent of the cases being contested in various courts, including tribunals, in the country.
"We are the biggest decision makers. Hence we are the biggest litigant as some decisions are bound to go against the interest of some people who would approach court and the government would certainly defend itself," said a senior functionary.