UT unveils litigation policy, focuses on mediation, timely resolution of disputes

Aimed at promoting transparency, accountability and efficiency in handling legal proceedings, the UT Administration has rolled out a comprehensive “Chandigarh Litigation Policy”. The new policy, notified by the UT Home Department, seeks to minimise unnecessary litigation and encourage amicable dispute resolution through mediation and arbitration.

According to the notification, the policy fixes accountability at various levels, such as at the level of officers in charge of litigation, those responsible in defending cases, all lawyers concerned, officials and staff of the department concerned and nodal officers concerned.

It has been proposed to implement the policy through a three-tier system — Administration-Level Empowered Committee (ALEC), Department-Level Empowered Committee (DLEC) and District-level Empowered Committee (DTLEC). At the appropriate level, these committees will decide whether an appeal is to be filed or not.

The ALEC, to be constituted under the Chairmanship of UT Chief Secretary, shall strive to streamline the litigation and attempt to minimise litigation by identifying the major causes of the litigation. It shall recommend measures to the Administration to minimise litigation and suggest introduction of changes in procedures relating to decisions involving core policy. It shall monitor all stages of the litigation process and the reports submitted by the DLEC.

The committee shall meet quarterly. In cases where judgment passed by the High Court or the Supreme Court have attained finality, the ALEC shall get it implemented across all departments/board/corporations/PSU (as and where applicable) in similar cases covered by the said judgment. The committee shall review the cases of entire Chandigarh where prosecution/investigation has failed to secure conviction and shall recommend suitable measures to make improvements, especially procedural reforms.

To avoid litigation, all departments shall set up effective grievance redressal committees, which would pre-empt a lot of unnecessary litigation, as a major cause of litigation is arbitrariness in decision making and lack of proper response to representations made by employees and parties. In service matters, most of the cases relate to relief not being given as per rules, instructions and policy decisions. Before the matter reaches the court, the affected party generally spends a lot of time and effort to redress its grievances through the normal administrative channel.

Settlement of dispute through Lok Adalats

All pending disputes/cases shall be reviewed by the DLEC and the DTLEC to settle them before the Lok Adalats/Special Camps, in consultation with the Legal Aid Cell of High Court or the State/District Legal Services Authority. The exercise shall be carried out periodically.

For settlement of disputes, the departmental nodal officer shall monitor the status of pending arbitration cases and apprise the Administrative Secretary/Head of Department of the cases in which the progress is slow for one reason or the other.

Cases in which costs are awarded against the Chandigarh Administration as a condition of grant of adjournment would be viewed very seriously.