The central government has spent more than ₹400 crore over the past ten years on contesting legal cases, official data reveals.

In the 2023-24 financial year alone, the government’s litigation expenses stood at ₹66 crore—an increase of over ₹9 crore compared to the previous fiscal. The expenditure on legal battles has generally been on the rise since 2014-15, except for two years when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.

According to data shared in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Budget session, litigation costs amounted to ₹26.64 crore in 2014-15, rising to ₹37.43 crore in 2015-16. Between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the total amount spent on litigations surpassed ₹409 crore.

Meanwhile, the Law Ministry recently informed the Rajya Sabha that the central government is involved in nearly seven lakh pending cases across various courts. Of these, the Finance Ministry alone is a litigant in approximately 1.9 lakh cases.

Quoting figures from the Legal Information Management & Briefing System (LIMBS), Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal stated, “There are about seven lakh cases pending where the Government of India is a party. Out of these, in about 1.9 lakh cases, the Ministry of Finance is mentioned as a party.”

To address the backlog, the government is working on a national litigation policy aimed at expediting case resolution. A draft of the proposed policy is expected to be reviewed by the Union Cabinet for final approval. Successive governments have been deliberating on the framework, revising and redrafting the policy over the years.