New Delhi: The Union government has spent a staggering Rs 561.08 crore on litigation over the past 11 years, even as 7.18 lakh court cases involving various ministries and departments remain unresolved across the country.
Among ministries facing litigation, the Ministry of Finance leads with 1.93 lakh cases, followed by Indian Railways with 1.15 lakh cases and the Ministry of Defence with 96,526 cases. At the other end of the spectrum, the Ministry of Cooperation has just one case pending, followed by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (3), Panchayati Raj (13) and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (17), as reported by Deccan Herald on Monday.
This data was presented to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice earlier this year, during its examination of the Ministry of Law and Justice’s Demands for Grants for 2025–26.
Within two weeks of the panel tabling its report in Parliament, the Ministry on April 4 issued the ‘Directive for the efficient and effective management of litigation by the Government of India’ to prevent “unwanted” litigation, minimise “unwarranted” appeals and address “inconsistencies” in notifications and orders to reduce caseload, added DH.
The Parliamentary committee report revealed a fluctuating trend in litigation-related expenditure over the years. In 2014–15, the government spent Rs 26.64 crore, which increased steadily to Rs 65.83 crore by 2017–18. A slight dip occurred in 2018–19, with spending reduced to Rs 51.85 crore. This was followed by another increase in 2019–20 to Rs 61.08 crore. During the pandemic years of 2020–21 and 2021–22, expenditure fell to Rs 58.43 crore and Rs 48.56 crore respectively.
However, costs began rising again post-pandemic, reaching Rs 57.45 crore in 2022–23 and peaking at Rs 66.57 crore in 2023–24—the highest in the past decade.
For the current fiscal year (2024–25), Rs 39.06 crore has already been spent by December 31, 2024.
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New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI): Krunal Pandya recorded his first fifty in IPL since 2016, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru pull off a six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on a challenging Feroz Shah Kotla track here on Sunday.
Krunal (73 not out of 47 balls), who has part of every IPL season since his debut in 2016, paced his innings perfectly while batting alongside chase master Virat Kohli (51 off 47).
The duo shared a 119-run stand off 84 balls as RCB chased down 163 in 18.3 overs to extend their unbeaten run away from home.
RCB bowlers put a squeeze on Delhi Capitals in the middle overs through Josh Hazlewood and the spinners to limit the home team to 162 for six.
For RCB, it was their seventh win in 10 games while DC suffered only their third loss in nine matches. Both teams are on course to make the play-offs.
At 26 for three, RCB felt the heat before Krunal and Kohli bailed them out.
In his maiden season for RCB, Krunal has made valuable contributions with both bat and ball.
On Sunday night, Kohli played the perfect anchor as Krunal came up with timely hits on a difficult surface to deliver a fine win for his team. His straight hit through the line off Mukesh Kumar and an aerial drive over cover off the wily Kuldeep Yadav stood out among his four sixes.
Kohli's consistency has been remarkable this season and the knock against DC was his sixth 50-plus score in 10 innings. The highlight of his solid effort was the straight drive off Mitchell Starc.
The night, however, belonged to Krunal who collected only his second 50-plus score in 116 IPL innings.
Earlier, K L Rahul (41 off 39 balls) was the top-scorer for DC but it was Tristian Stubbs (34 off 18 balls) who helped the hosts post a fighting total.
RCB put the opposition in to bat, expecting better batting conditions during the run chase.
Faf du Plessis (22 off 26 balls) returned from injury to join Abhishek Porel (28 off 11) at the top of the order but it was the latter who ensured DC reached 52 for two in the powerplay.
The southpaw, who has been in fine form this season, came up with a couple of sizzling sixes in his entertaining cameo. Both came off Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- one was a left-handed hit over mid-wicket and the second was a pick-up shot over fine leg.
As veteran du Plessis struggled to get going at the other end, Porel found the ropes with relative ease.
Lead RCB pacer Hazlewood, who has been relentless with his hard lengths, took three balls to get the breakthrough as he cramped Porel to have him caught behind down the leg side.
Karun Nair, who began with a short arm pull off Hazlewood for a boundary, played an ordinary shot off Yash Dayal in the following over and his mishit was pouched at mid-wicket.
The spinners got into operation after the powerplay and overs 7-10 was the phase when RCB were able to stem the flow of runs, conceding just 20 runs off the four overs from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, who got rid of du Plessis in that period.
It was only towards the end of the innings that DC managed to get some momentum, all thanks to the blitzkrieg from Stubbs.
The 18th and 19th over from Hazlewood and Dayal yielded 17 and 19 runs, enabling DC to cross the 160-run mark.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals: 162 for 8 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 41; Bhuveshwar Kumar 3/33).
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 165 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Krunal Pandya 73, Virat Kohli 51; Axar Patel 2/19).