Bombay HC takes dig at Centre's 'ease of doing business", says it is mindful of pendency of cases

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The Bombay High Court recently criticized the Central government's claims of promoting "ease of doing business," highlighting that it was the government itself that frequently sought adjournments and contributed significantly to the backlog of cases in the courts. During a hearing on October 5, a division bench comprising Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata addressed a petition filed by Ramkali Gupta in 2016 concerning property-related matters.

The bench in its order said it was "shocked" to note that Gupta's petition has been pending for seven years and that since June this year, the plea has been adjourned at the request of the Union government so that the additional solicitor general could appear, PTI reported.

"We are equally mindful, and we are constrained to say this, that we are no strangers to repeated assertions from the Union government itself regarding pendency of cases, mounting arrears, frequent adjournments, and impediments allegedly caused by our courts to what the government calls 'the ease of doing business'," the bench said.

"Conveniently overlooked in all these assertions is the fact that it is the government that is by far the largest litigant and it is the government that most often seeks adjournments, frequently needlessly," the court said, citing the present plea as an example, as per the PTI report.

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"The conduct of the Union government in the present matter does not leave much to be desired. It leaves everything to be desired," it said.

The court said it does not expect the additional solicitor general to appear in every single matter involving the Union of India.

"Obviously, it is not unreasonable to expect that there will be perfectly competent advocates from his office who will be able to lighten his load and assist him in discharging the duties of his office. We see no reason why no one else is prepared to go on with this matter," the order said.

The court said the issue raised in the petition was narrow and deserved to be heard and disposed of finally at the stage of admission itself.

"Given this, we are entirely unable to appreciate, and indeed we express our strongest displeasure of applications for repeated adjournments," the court said.

The bench while adjourning the plea for the last time said it was doing so only out of courtesy to the additional solicitor general. (With inputs from PTI)