PM reviews working of dept handling litigations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed the working of the department handling litigation on behalf of the central government in the Supreme Court amid complaints that law officers often fail to get files relating to their cases on time.
Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and top officials of the Legal Affairs Department in his ministry briefed Modi on the role of the Central Agency Section here yesterday.
"The Prime Minister wanted to understand the functioning of the CAS and it was explained to him," a senior government functionary said.
The review by the PM assumes significance as government wants to shed the tag of being the "biggest litigant" in the country.

Amid complaints that often files related to upcoming cases are misplaced and do not reach the law officers handling the matter, Gowda had made a surprise visit to the Agency office located in the Supreme Court complex recently.
The minister had expressed concern that poor handling of case files was adversely affecting the litigations in which the government is a party.

"If a file gets returned to the CAS on account of postponement of the hearing, the same file will never come back to the law officers/panel advocates on the subsequent date," a Law Ministry note to the CAS noted.

Law officers and advocates had complained that they get the files at the eleventh hour, giving them little time to prepare.
The record room of the CAS has since been upgraded and several steps taken to ensure smooth functioning.
The review of the key department was due in November but it was postponed due to the Winter session of Parliament.