New Delhi, March 22 -- Supreme Court judge justice BV Nagarathna on Saturday described the government as not only a participant in the litigation process but also the largest generator of disputes, which she said adds to judicial backlog. "The government plays a dual role. It provides infrastructure and reforms, but it is also the biggest litigator, whether at the central or state level. The state is expected to litigate with restraint, to be the model litigator, but that does not happen. It goes on litigating till the end," she said while speaking at the Supreme Court Bar Association national conference on "Reimagining Judicial Governance". During her address, she pointed to systemic behaviour within the bureaucracy that encourages appeals over settlements. "A government officer who settles a dispute will face audit objections, vigilance bodies will go after him, or political superiors will question him. Any compromise is admitted as an administrative failure. By contrast, an officer who files an appeal rarely faces criticism. So he goes by caution. Appeals become routine rather than rare." The judge warned that this culture shifts the cost of bureaucratic caution onto the judicial system. "We are carrying the burden of this evasiveness of the government into the judicial system...Cases that should end in lower courts continue through successive layers up to the Supreme Court."...