Chandigarh, September 4: To check the growing litigation costs incurred by government departments, the state has decided to adopt a four-tier system to nominate nodal officers for monitoring such court cases. To track the status of cases, a digital database is being prepared at different levels – district-wise, department-wise, Chief Secretary’s office and the High Court level.
Under the amended Punjab Dispute Resolution and Litigation Policy, the government has also decided to set up a high empowered committee on litigation, headed by the Chief Secretary. It is supposed to meet once every three months. It is being said departments are spending huge amounts on fighting legal cases and the government wants to bring down the litigation cost.
As per the new policy, all legal matters of the government, PSUs, government corporations etc will be handled by the office of the state Advocate General and panels will be made in consultation with the AG. In case of the difference of opinion, the matter will be referred to the Chief Minister.
In case any department wants to hire lawyers, other than that of the AG’s office, it will need to take permission from the Chief Minister, the new policy states, in a bid to check unnecessary expenditure incurred by such hiring. The cost incurred by departments hiring from outside though the AG office was Rs 2 crore per month on 152 law officers.
A senior officer said, “The employees will be encouraged to settle disputes at the level of the government itself or through an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. The government will aim to avoid unwarranted litigation in cases where the matter can be resolved by converting the pending litigation into a representation to the Administrative Secretary concerned for time-bound orders or where employees’ matters are already covered by judgments that have attained finality.” Fresh guidelines regarding timely filing of replies and filing of appeals have also been issued.
Source Tribune India
