Bitten by the litigation bug

Bitten by the litigation bug: Courts have repeatedly denounced filing futile appeals by public authorities...


February 7, 2018
Justice delayed
This refers to M J Antony’s column captioned “Bitten by the litigation bug” (Out of Court, February 7). Going by media reports, recent years have seen Indian Judiciary, from Munsiff Court to the Supreme Court at the receiving end. Bench and the Bar together should share the major portion of the blame for the present pendency of millions of cases across the country.
In these cases remain hidden the fate of lakhs of undertrials languishing in jails without getting an opportunity to be heard to thousands of pensioners dying every year whose claims for higher pension or even payment of pension remain tagged to undecided petitions before courts.
When the rich and the powerful (includes governments) are on one side in a petition before the court decisions get delayed indefinitely when lawyers get a regular income and periodical postings in courts become just a formality.
There is a live case before the Lucknow High Court now about pension revision in RBI. The same issue is pending before Mumbai High Court for more than 15 years now. A routine pension revision effected by RBI (Bimal Jalan was Governor) with reference to 1997 wage revision was withdrawn under Finance Ministry instructions. When retirees approached Mumbai High Court, the ‘withdrawal of pension benefits was stayed’ by the court, giving material relief to the petitioners. The stay still remains and Finance Ministry has so far succeeded in preventing RBI from revising pension after 1997 under one pretext or the other. In such cases, courts should at least hear all the pending cases in one court and decide the issue once for all.

M G Warrier, Mumbai

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