To cut litigation among own, Cab Secy says keep disputes within

THE CABINET Secretary has shot off a missive directing all Central government ministries and departments to “resolve cleavage of opinions or contradictions within the Government” and not to allow disputes to spill outside. This comes at a time when the Supreme Court has passed severe strictures in a case involving two Central government entities, where the government was slammed for the “sad state of affairs” entailing State-run corporations fighting long battles with each other at the cost of taxpayers’ money and public resources.

Over 50 per cent of cases in the higher judiciary pertain to government appeals, including tax cases. A March 2016 report prepared by the Central Board of Direct Taxes noted that in more than 30 per cent tax-related litigations pending in courts, appeals had been filed by the Tax Department mechanically, “without appreciation of the maintainability of the issue involved”.

Through a letter dated June 16, the Cabinet Secretary wrote about the need to resolve internal differences within the government. The Cabinet Secretariat followed this up with a June 27 office memorandum, seeking concurrence among government departments on the point that “any decision being considered by one Department that is likely to affect the ABRS (allocation of business rules) or TBRS (transaction of business rules) allotted to another department, such decisions may not be taken until all such departments whose business have bearing thereupon are consulted and their concurrence (is) obtained”.

Official sources indicated that this would also be kept in mind while vetting the pleadings to be filed by the Department of Legal Affairs on behalf of various wings of the Union government.

A World Bank survey on doing business had listed India 188 among 189 countries in terms of enforcing contracts to resolve commercial disputes.

The Supreme Court had slammed the government while hearing an appeal by Northern Coalfields Ltd against Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd over a tender for construction of a coal handling plant at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.

In a civil appeal involving the two entities, decided on July 13, a Supreme Court bench had

Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha wrote to ministries