Over the past 10 years, the government has spent more than Rs 400 crore on court cases, with Rs 66 crore being spent on litigations in the 2023-24 financial year—an increase of over Rs 9 crore compared to the previous year. The expenditure on legal matters has steadily risen since 2014-15, except for two years during the peak of the COVID pandemic, according to official data shared with the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Budget session.

Between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the government spent over ₹409 crore on litigation. In 2014-15, the expenditure on legal cases was ₹26.64 crore, which increased to ₹37.43 crore in 2015-16. Additionally, the law ministry recently informed the Rajya Sabha that nearly seven lakh cases are pending in various courts with the central government as a party, and the Finance Ministry alone is involved in about two lakh of these cases.

Citing data available on the Legal Information Management & Briefing System (LIMBS), Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal remarked, "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." The government is preparing a national litigation policy aimed at speeding up the resolution of pending cases. A draft of this policy will be presented to the Union Cabinet for final approval.

The policy has been revised multiple times over the years, with different governments carefully discussing and shaping its details.