'National Litigation Policy to be implemented soon'

Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has said that the National Litigation Policy will come into force shortly.

“The draft report – written after collecting the opinions of secretaries of all departments – has been submitted to the Prime Minister. Once the PM reviews it, the Cabinet will take a final call on the same,” he explained.

He was speaking after inaugurating the SDM Students’ Bar Council in the City on Friday.
“The policy will provide solutions to various issues. Once it is implemented, the court litigation pertaining to various government departments can be solved within the department. About 55 per cent of the litigations are among the departments where the government is either a party, a respondent or – in certain cases – the petitioner,” he explained.

The minister said that the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NITK) at Suratkal is equivalent of an IIT. “A proposal to upgrade it to an IIT will still be submitted to the HRD Minister Smrithi Irani,” he assured.

“Law students should conduct camps in rural areas to create awareness on law on the lines of medical students conducting health camps in villages,” he suggested.

There is a need to review at least 1,800 laws in the country. The process to repeal about 1,300 laws from the law book has already been initiated, he added.

‘JD(S) to support BJP’

Speaking to mediapersons later, Sadananda Gowda expressed confidence that the JD(S) would extend its support to the BJP in the BBMP mayoral election ‘at the last minute’.

“In politics, there is no friend or enemy. The statements by the Congress leaders against JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy in the last one and a half years will not be forgotten. During my meeting with Deve Gowda, I have spoken about issues related to D K Ravi, encroachment of water bodies, the CET row and Ahinda policy of the government.

Gowda is unhappy with the BJP to the extent of 20 per cent, while with the Congress, the dissatisfaction is to the extent of the remaining 80 per cent. JD(S) spokesperson Y S V Datta has openly expressed displeasure at the behaviour of the Congress,” he said.

He said that the JD(S) has been demanding that the proposal on the trifurcation of the BBMP and the waive of Rs 9,600 crore loans, raised by the previous administration in BBMP be dropped. “The JD(S) and the BJP have been fighting against the trifurcation of the BBMP,” he added.

Sadananda Gowda said that the BJP has received a clear mandate from the people by winning 100 seats in the BBMP. SDM College founder-principal Prof N J Kadamba was honoured during the programme. NITK director Swapan Bhattacharya and others were present.