Supreme Court remarks, “At least 40% of litigation by Centre and States is frivolous”

On May 8, 2023, a counsel appeared before the Supreme Court bench to mention a service matter. While hearing the matter, the Supreme Court remarked that “At least 40% of litigation by Centre and States is frivolous. Filing to deny 700 rupees per month to someone and spending 7 lakhs of taxpayer money.” The matter was mentioned today before a three-judge bench including Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Karol, and Justice BR Gavai. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “We are now conservative.” To which, the bench responded, “We will disagree.” Recently, CJI DY Chandrachud said that mediation should be adopted by the Central Government in a big way rather than taking recourse to litigation to resolve legal disputes. Further, he opined, “The motto of the Union government and its agencies should be ‘mediate, not litigate’” CJI stated that mediation is a process that includes resolving disagreements by bringing together stakeholders and finding a common good.