Punjab and Haryana HC proposes formulation of litigation policy

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made clear its intent to direct Punjab to come up with a litigation policy, while admonishing the state government for its repeated delays in filing replies in court cases, at times for years together.

Highlighting a broader issue, a Division Bench asserted that the Central and the state governments together formed the country’s biggest litigants, especially at the high court level. Their tendency to seek adjournments for filing replies, on account of change of lawyers’ panel or non-availability of officer in-charge, was rampant.

The Bench of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjay Vashisth also warned the government of Rs 10 lakh costs in case of its failure to complete its pleadings in a bunch of 37 petitions by the next hearing. The amount would be recoverable from the salaries of the officers responsible, the Bench asserted.

As the petitions listed specifically for final arguments came up before the Bench, the petitioners’ counsel expressed willingness to argue the matter based on a reply filed in one of the cases. But the state counsel sought adjournment on the ground that they wanted to file a reply to the matter.

The Bench asserted it was pained to observe that the state government and its various departments did not file reply at the first instance in almost all cases and adjournments were sought for filing reply on the date fixed after the issuance of notice. In several cases, replies had not been filed for years together by the state and its authorities, resulting in huge pendency of cases.

The Bench said it time and again felt handicapped in deciding matters, essentially relating to revenue due to non-filing of replies.