Railways biggest Government litigant with over 66,000 cases: Law Ministry

July 16, 2017

Finance Ministry follows the Railways with 15,646 cases.

The Railway Ministry is the biggest litigant among all the govt. departments. It's a party to more than 66,000 cases pending in the courts across the country, the law ministry says.

Govt. litigation includes service matters, disputes with pvt. entities & disputes between 2 govt. departments & 2 PSUs, according to a law ministry document of June 2017.

The document states that as on 12th June 2017, 1,35,060 govt. cases & 369 contempt cases against govt. or its officials were pending in the courts.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has the least number of pendency among govt. departments with just 3 pending cases.

Finance ministry follows the Railways with 15,646 cases. The Ministry of Communication in 3rd biggest litigant has 12,621 cases pending in courts.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is 4th biggest litigant with 11,600 cases.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, in a letter addressed to his cabinet colleagues, had recently said that the "govt. must cease to be a 'compulsive litigant'; the judiciary has to spend its max. time in tackling cases where the govt. is a party, & this burden on the Judiciary can be reduced only if the cases are filed after taking a careful & considered view."

In October, PM Narendra Modi had termed the govt. as the "biggest litigant" & had pushed for a need to lessen the load on the judiciary.