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Frivolous litigation cause for concern: CJI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4
Expressing concern over the rising frivolous litigation in the country, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, today favoured stronger penalty against persons indulging in such kind of litigation.

“There is so much frivolous litigation. It needs to be curbed and the way to deal with it effectively is to impose exemplary costs on the persons doing so,” he said.

Mr Justice Sabharwal was interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of the convocation of Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh.

Remarking that the duty to cut down on the huge number of pending cases in various courts was not the judiciary’s alone, the Chief Justice of India said he did not have a magic wand to unilaterally deal with the problem, which has assumed mammoth proportions in the past few years.

“All solutions will have to be considered. Be it arbitration or lok adalats. We need more cooperation from the government, the court staff, lawyers, and most of all litigants. Only then can we hope to impart quick justice,” the plain-speaking CJI said.

Asked to comment on the general view-point that the judicial system of the country had not been able to properly mitigate the sufferings of the poorest of the poor, Mr Justice Sabharwal said only the courts could not be blamed for the same.

“Yes, the problem exists. But, look at the workload. There is dire necessity to shift workload from general courts to courts that have been constituted to deal with specific types of cases. We are also trying to involve all sections of society, particularly retired civil servants, in helping various parties to a dispute arrive at some sort of amicable solution. But, this will take time,” he added.

Pointing to the large number of vacancies at various levels of the judiciary, the CJI observed that for too many cases, there are too few Judges. “We are desperately short of Judges.

There is urgent need to fill all vacancies, particularly at the subordinate judiciary level. At the same time, the system of alternate dispute redressal needs to be strengthened and made more popular,” Mr Justice Sabharwal said.

To a question, Mr Justice Sabharwal disclosed that the Supreme Court of India had already appointed an information officer to give out information under the Right to Information Act.

When mediapersons sought his view on the recent controversy that erupted after the issuance of notice by the Supreme Court to the Lok Sabha Speaker in the cash-for-questions scam, the CJI refused to accept there was any controversy. “There is absolutely no controversy,” he said.