CM vows to reduce pendency of cases in APAT

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, APRIL 1. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, today assured the judiciary that the Government would minimise the scope for litigation before the A. P. Administrative Tribunal (APAT) by revising and simplifying procedures and practices.

Mr. Naidu said litigation on service-related matters was costing the Government dearly in terms of money, time and disruption of administrative work besides increasing the workload of the courts. He would instruct senior officers to settle pending cases by sitting across the table with Government employees who had filed cases before the APAT.

Mr. Naidu was speaking at a function to inaugurate a Permanent Bench of Lok Adalat for the APAT by the Supreme Court Judge, Mr. Justice B. N. Kirpal, who is also Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Service Committee, here on Sunday. The primary objective of the Lok Adalat is to reduce the huge pendency of 25,000 cases in the Tribunal.

The Chief Minister said Administrative Tribunals were meant to reduce the burden of a large number of cases pending before various courts. But, as things turned out, the Tribunals themselves were flooded with cases leading to delays.

Mr. Justice Kirpal, in his inaugural address, complimented the authorities for taking the initiative for establishing the first Lok Adalat in the country for the Administrative Tribunal in AP.

The Chief Justice of the A. P. High Court, Mr. Satya Brata Sinha, in his presidential address, said the experiment of Lok Adalat could be meaningful only with the cooperation between the judicial and legal fraternity.

Mr. Justice B. Subhashan Reddy, Judge of the A. P. High Court and Executive Chairman, A. P. State Legal Services Authority, and Mr. B. Nageshwar Rao, President, APAT Advocates Association, spoke.

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Section  : Southern States
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