Govt prepares state litigation policy
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, May 19 2011: The state will soon have its own state litigation policy.

The Manipur State Litigation Policy, 2011 has been prepared to deal with state litigation based on recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, an official source said.

The state policy is also based on the National Litigation Policy and has been prepared in pursuance of the direction of the Central government, the source maintained and said Government of India had already launched a policy on July 23, 2010 and instruction was given to all states to frame a state litigation policy to deal with state litigations.

The state formulated the state policy to reduce government litigation in courts so that valuable court time would be spent in resolving other pending cases so as to achieve the goal of the National Legal Mission to reduce average pendency time from 15 years to 3 years.

It also aims at transformation of the state government into an efficient and responsible government to protect the rights of citizens, to respect fundamental rights and for an efficient conduct of government litigation.

Litigators on behalf of the government have to keep in mind the principles incorporated in the national mission for judicial reforms which includes identifying bottlenecks which the government and its agencies may be concerned with and also removing unnecessary government cases.

Prioritisation in litigation has to be achieved with particular emphasis on welfare legislation, social reform, weaker sections and senior citizens and other categories requiring assistance.

The main feature of the state policy ensures that all stake holders will have to play their part � the Ministry of Law & Justice, Heads of various Departments, Law Officers and Government Counsels, and individual officers all connected with the concerned litigation.

The success of this policy will depend on its strict implementation.

Nodal officers will be appointed by Heads of Department who will ultimately be responsible for the working of the department or agency, as the case may be.

As the nodal officer has a crucial and important role to play in the overall and specific implementation of this policy the appointment of nodal officers must be done carefully.

Accountability will be at various levels; at the level of officers in charge of litigation, those responsible for defending cases, all the lawyers concerned and nodal officers.

Empowered committees will be set up to monitor the implementation and accountability of this policy.

The nodal officers and the heads of department will ensure that all relevant data is sent to the empowered committees.

The empowered committee at the national level shall be chaired by the Advocate General for Manipur and such other members not exceeding six in number as may be nominated by the state law department with an additional secretary to be the member secretary.

State cabinet had discussed the draft state policy in one of its seatings recently and had agreed in principle.

The same will be tabled in the floor of the state Assembly in its next session for discussion and passing, the source disclosed.

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