“Centre, Delhi Govt Must Incorporate Rules For Holding Officers Accountable For Lapse In Handling Court Cases”: Delhi High Court

Prima facie observing that raising false claims by government officers causes injustice to the litigant seeking justice, the Delhi High Court has observed that there is a need for the Centre and the Delhi Government to incorporate Rules for holding its officers responsible for lapses in handling court cases. A single judge bench comprising of Justice JR Midha observed thus: “This Court is of the prima facie view that whenever a false claim is raised by the Government, it causes immense injustice to the litigant seeking justice; it also puts unnecessary burden on the Court and the Government also suffers but the concerned officer who has raised the false claim, does not suffer any action.” Furthermore, it said: “This Court is of the view that the directions with respect to the Accountability in Government litigation are in the nature of PIL and therefore, it would be appropriate to list this matter before the PIL Bench. Subject to the orders of Hon’ble the Chief Justice, list this matter before Division Bench on 15th July, 2021.” The development came in a bunch of cases wherein the Government had raised false claims or defences before the High Court. Observing that the same is a matter of grave concern, the Court observed thus: “All these cases shocked the conscience of this Court. It appears that the false claims are raised with impunity because there is no accountability of any Government officer for raising the false claims and Courts seldom take any action against the person concerned for raising false claims/ defences.” Noting that the State of Sikkim has already framed the Rules “Conduct of the Government Litigation Rules, 2000”, the Court said that “there is a need to incorporate similar Rules by the Central Government as well as by the GNCTD.”