Centre plans legal divisions in ministries

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 5

Every ministry and department of the Centre Government will soon have a legal division of its own, as the Ministry of Law and Justice has mooted a proposal in this regard with an aim to minimise litigation and time consumption in decision-making.

A senior functionary in the ministry said the aim was to create an “integrated legal division (ILD)” with the sole purpose of reducing litigation and providing competent legal advice to stem huge losses to the exchequer.

He further said the move was in line with the present government’s intent to restructure the legal apparatus at its disposal for implementing a rule-based regime.

Over the years, the state has been a major litigant in Indian courts across the country and one of the former Law Secretaries told The Tribune that the move appears to have been mooted keeping this in mind. “India jumped 23 places to rank 77 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2019 report and such efforts will further boost the ranking,” he added.

Sources said the ILD was being planned on the lines of Integrated Financial Adviser (IFA) Scheme of the department of expenditure.