Govt to review pending cases to weed out avoidable litigations : Abdul Haq

Won’t contest cases where petitioner’s plea is genuine

5 Dariya News

Jammu 22-Apr-2017

Minister for Law and Justice, Abdul Haq today said that the government will review all the cases pending in courts and weed out such cases if government finds that petitioners’ claim holds good in such case.He said this while reviewing the litigation work pending before different courts to discuss steps to be taken for speedy and effective disposal of the cases and to safeguard interests of the state.Minister said there are many such cases pending in courts which need not be contested in courts as the petitioner’s claims are genuine on merits. He said in such cases government won’t make the petitioners suffer by contesting avoidable litigation.He directed the administrative heads of various departments to hold fortnightly meetings in matters in which it is deemed proper to accept the petitioner’s claim, on the basis of the facts and merits of the case and thereby not to contest matters which are otherwise required to be implemented owing to the merit of the case.

Abdul Haq said government’s policy is not to contest every case for the sake of contesting it but it will regularly review the cases and if the legal experts of the government find that the petitioner’s petition is valid and needs to be accepted, the government won’t hesitate in accepting that as the aim of the court process is to deliver justice and government will ensure justice is delivered in time.The Minister also directed all the law officers and the government advocates to update their knowledge by continuously reading and updating themselves about new judgments so that they can assist the courts with updated knowledge.  He stressed on the lawyers to be good readers so that they can continue to update their knowledge which will help them in court while contesting cases.The Law Minister expressed satisfaction over the working of the law department and observed that the performance of the department has improved manifolds.He stressed upon the Law Officers and the government advocates to maintain complete synergy with each other so that the pending cases are followed on time in courts and desired results are achieved. He said law officers of all the departments should work as a team then only goals can be achieved.

The meeting also discussed the premature retirement cases and the cases related to SRO-43 and subsequent steps being taken for filing of appeals sanctioned by the Department of Law. Meeting also discussed the status of interim directions which are operating against the state and the measures taken to remedy it, more so in cases of interim directions which are hampering developmental activities of the state.Regarding the criminal cases, the Minister called for cooperation between the Prosecution and Investigation wings and said that the officers of both the departments need to work diligently as they are responsible for providing justice to the aggrieved people.Abdul Haq said coordination between the investigating agencies, forensic and medical experts and prosecutors can lead to foolproof mechanism for establishing the case during the trial. He said joint efforts should be made to fix the loopholes in investigation and prosecution stages so that criminals are not acquitted due to weak investigations.