16-Dec-2022: The Lok Adalat is one of the important Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) Mechanism available to common people

The Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today informed that the Lok Adalat is one of the important Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) Mechanism available to common people. It is a forum where the disputes/ cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably.  Lok Adalat is primarily a “People’s Court” wherein decisions are arrived at between two or more disputing parties on mutually acceptable terms amicably. Under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal lies against thereto before any court.  In order to reduce the pendency of cases in courts and also to settle the disputes at pre-litigation stage, Lok Adalats are organized by Legal Services Institutions at such intervals as it deems fit.  Lok Adalat is not a permanent establishment.  However, as per Section 19 of the LSA Act, 1987, Lok Adalats are organized by Legal Services Institutions as per requirement.  National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date. There are three types of Lok Adalats:-

1. National Lok Adalats: National Lok Adalats are held on a single day in all the Courts of the County, four times in a year.  The dates of the National Lok Adalats are decided by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in the beginning of each calendar year and circulated to all the State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs).  During the COVID pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) innovatively leveraged technology and introduced E-Lok Adalat, wherein affected parties could get this matter resolved without physically visiting the venue of the Adalat.
2. State Lok Adalats: State Lok Adalats are planned and organized by the State Legal Services Authorities within the State.  It may be conducted on weekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly basis, as per their specific need.
3. Permanent Lok Adalats: Permanent Lok Adalats are conducted on daily basis or as per the number of sittings decided per week. Presently, 344 Permanent Lok Adalats are functioning in 37 States/UTs.

During the COVID pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities (LSAs) innovatively leveraged technology and introduced E-Lok Adalat, wherein affected parties could get their matter resolved without physically visiting the venue of the Adalat.  E-Lok Adalat is a process to settle disputes, combining technology and alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) mechanisms which offers a faster, transparent and accessible option. E-Lok Adalats have significantly improved access to justice for people who would otherwise be unable to participate in the Lok Adalats. With Lok Adalats being held virtually, it has become accessible to a large section of the population. E-Lok Adalats are also cost effective as it eliminates the need for organizational expenses. As people can effectively participate from their homes with the help of internet technology, it has reduced the cost of travel to access the forum. Besides, it also saves time as people do not have to take time off work. The following steps have been taken by most of the Legal Services Authorities to promote E-Lok Adalats:-

1. Standard Operating Procedures have been formulated
2. Technical training through System Officers has been provided to the Court Staff.
3. WhatsApp Groups are formed for litigants, advocates and respondents for conveying them relevant information and the link for attending e-Lok Adalat
4. Video Conferencing Link and Cause list are displayed on the website of the District Courts.

Lok Adalat is being organized in all courts and tribunals defined under section 2(aaa) of Legal Services Authorities Act,1987 on any holiday as prescribed by NALSA.  In addition to conventional methods, use of technology is also promoted in almost all courts and tribunals which possesses necessary infrastructure for the same.  So far, E-Lok Adalats have been organized in 28 States and UTs namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

16-Dec-2022: NALSA has taken several steps to provide speedy and cost-effective justice through free legal aid services

The Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today informed that National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), established by Government under Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, has undertaken through third party agencies three Evaluation and Impact Assessment Studies for evaluation of legal aid programmes which include :-

1. Evaluation and Impact Assessment of Practice and Procedure of Empanelment, Capacity Building, Engagement and Management of lawyer empanelled with Legal Services Authorities.
2. Evaluation of Legal Aid provided in Civil and Criminal matters in Courts, Tribunals, Quasi-Judicial Body & Jails.
3. Evaluation & Impact Assessment of Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs).

NALSA has taken several steps to provide speedy and cost-effective justice through free legal aid services. They include :-

1. NALSA has created a web portal to file Applications through online for getting legal assistance.  The applicant may file the applications either directly to State Legal Services Authority/District Legal Services Authority/High Court Legal Services Committee/Supreme Court Legal Services Committee from where the applicant requires legal assistance.  The applicant has the option to file application directly to NALSA and in that case the said application is transferred to the concerned Legal Services Institutions for appropriate action i.e. to provide legal assistance.  Thereafter, the concerned Legal Services Institution has to update the action taken report. The online web portal for filing legal aid applications has also been made more inclusive and a legal aid application can now be filed in Ten (10) languages i.e. English, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, Odia and Kannada.
2. NALSA has also launched Legal Services Mobile App for Android and IOS version on 8th August, 2021 and on 09th November, 2021 respectively which will facilitate following functions:-
3. Any citizen may apply for seeking legal assistance, legal advice and for redressal of other grievances through Mobile App.
4. Any citizen may track his application submitted for legal aid & advice and other grievances.
5. Reminder can be sent and clarifications can be sought through Mobile App.
6. Any victim of crime or applicant can apply for victim compensation through the Mobile App.
7. Application for pre-institution mediation in commercial matters or application for mediation may be filed through this Mobile App.

Besides above, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Helpline  assistance and assistance through e-mail are also provided in the Mobile App. In addition, asix week long Pan India Legal Awareness and outreach campaign was carried out from 02nd October to 14th November, 2021 as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to reach each and every village/Urban area of the country in order to maximize the outreach of Legal Services Authorities as well as to spread awareness regarding the availability of free legal services.  During the campaign, various activities were carried out by the Legal Services Authorities at every level of the society, witnessing huge response from the general public.

The said Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign was planned with the intent to enhance the outreach of Legal Services Authorities to all 6.7 Lakh villages and 4100 municipal town across the country so that a visible imprint of the activities of legal services authorities can be made in these villages and municipal towns. In this regard, various activities were planned and carried out, out of which the major activities included Door-to-Door Campaigns, Legal Awareness Programs, Awareness through Mobile Vans, and Awareness through Legal Aid Clinics. Apart from these major activities, the Legal Services Authorities organised specific legal awareness programs for women and children, organised Mega Legal Services Camps, Programs for Children who lost either or both parents due to covid, Exhibitions at State and District level, Moot Court Competitions for students of law universities, etc.

Department of Justice, Government of India launched a new Scheme on Access to Justice namely “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice” (DISHA) for the FY 2021-2026 wherein various initiatives have been introduced and consolidated to provide citizen- centric delivery of legal services. Under DISHA, the Tele-Law: Reaching the Unreached and Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono legal services) programmes are being implemented to provide pre-litigation legal advice and legal assistance in courts respectively. The Tele-Law Service connects the citizen with the Panel lawyers through the use of video /Tele conferencing facilities available at the Common Service Centres (CSCs) and through Tele-Law Mobile App. This service is currently operational in 1,000,00 Gram Panchayats across 755 Districts (including 112 Aspirational districts) in 36 States /UTs. As on 30th November, 2022 advice has been enabled to 28 lakh beneficiaries. The Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) programme aims to provide free legal assistance and counsel to the marginalized sections. Nyaya Bandhu Mobile Application, for android and iOS phones, has been developed to connect the registered Pro Bono Advocates with the registered applicants. As on 30th November, 2022, 5202 Advocates have registered under the programme. As on 30th November, 2022, 69 Law schools across the country have constituted “Pro Bono Clubs” under Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono) programme to instill a culture towards pro bono lawyering among the law students.

Through Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, Legal Services Institutions have been setup at all levels from the level of Taluk Courts to the Supreme Court to provide free legal services to the persons eligible under Section 12 of said Act, 1987.  The following Authorities/ Institutions are established nation-wide to provide free

legal aid to poor and weaker sections of the society and to conduct Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes pending in courts as well as at pre-litigation stage:-

1. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)-                 At National level
2. Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) -      At Supreme Court level
3. State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) -                      At State level
4. High Court Legal Services Committees (HCLSCs) -        At High Court level
5. District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs)-                  At District level
6. Taluk Legal Services Committees (TLSCs)-                    At Taluk level

Apart from this legal services clinics have also been set up at college/universities, villages, community centres, courts, jails, and juvenile justice boards etc. for providing free legal aid and advice. These clinics are manned by the Panel Lawyers and Para Legal Volunteers. As on 30.09.2022, about 12,158 number of Legal Services Clinics were functioning in the country.  In these clinics, around 4.81 lacs persons were provided legal assistance during the current financial year 2022-23 (upto September, 2022).

6-Oct-2022: National Lok Adalat to be held on 12th November 2022 across the country

National Lok Adalat will be held on 12th November 2022 across the country to dispose off pending cases through settlement.

Considering the benefits of the Lok Adalat system and mutual settlement between parties a large number of consumer cases are expected to be disposed of.

Groundwork for this exercise has already been initiated and all the consumer commissions have been intimated to identify cases that have an element of settlement and prepare a list of pending cases that can be referred to Lok Adalat. Regular monitoring of the making of the list is been done by the department.

To have maximum outreach and benefit consumers, Department is reaching out to consumers, companies, and organizations through SMS and emails. Department has the phone numbers and emails of 3 lakh parties whose cases are pending before the commissions. The Department has done a Video Conferencing with the Consumer Commissions which has more than 200 pending cases.

With the help of technology, a separate link is being created and circulated amongst all stakeholders wherein one can enter their pending case number and commission where the case is pending and easily refer the matter to Lok Adalat. The link shall be circulated through email and SMS.

Through data analytics, sector-wise distribution of pendency has been identified such as banking with a total number of 71379 pending cases, insurance with 168827, e-commerce with 1247, electricity with 33919, railways with 2316, etc., and efforts are being made towards the settlement of such consumer cases on priority.

Department of Consumer Affairs is constantly monitoring the disposal of cases in Consumer Commissions and is in the process of collaborating with the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) for referring the inclusion of pending consumer cases to be disposed of through the upcoming National Lok Adalat, where both parties mutually agree on a settlement. Communication in this regard has already been made to NALSA.

For further information and assistance to get their pending case referred to Lok Adalat, they can register their cases for the reference to Lok Adalat through the link http://cms.nic.in/ncdrcusersWeb/lad.do?method=lalp or can call on 1915, National Consumer Helpline who will assist them in the process. Also, the Consumer Commissions can upload the updated list of referred cases on the portal through the above-mentioned link.

 National Lok Adalats are held at regular intervals where on a single day Lok Adalats are held throughout the country, in all the courts right from the Supreme Court to the District level wherein cases are disposed of in huge numbers.

The mission of the Department of Consumer Affairs is to strengthen consumer protection and safety through progressive legislation, empower consumers through awareness and education, and provide access to fair and efficient grievance redressal mechanisms. National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) along with other Legal Service institutions conducts Lok Adalats. It is one of the alternate dispute redressal mechanisms, it’s a forum where disputes/cases pending in the courts/commissions are settled/ compromised amicably.

There are about 6, 07,996 consumer cases pending in the country. In NCDRC there are about 22250 numbers of cases pending. The major states like Uttar Pradesh with 28318 cases pending, Maharashtra with 18093 pending cases, Delhi with 15450 pending cases, Madhya Pradesh with 10319, and, Karnataka with 9615 pending cases are some of the states with the highest number of pendency. Some of the Districts with highest number of pendency are Muzaffarpur (Bihar) with 1853 number cases pending, Siwan (Bihar) with 1046, Patna (Bihar) with 4849, Ranchi (Jharkhand) with 1044, Khordha (Orissa) with 2308, Puri (Orissa) with 1884, Burdwan (West Bengal) with 1324, North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) with 1195, Howrah 9West Bengal) with 1253, Rajarhat (West Bengal) with 1148, Hisar (Haryana) with 2693, Rohtak (Haryana) with 2038, Gurgaon (Haryana) with 1811, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) with 1125, Sangrur (Punjab) with 2688, SAS Nagar Mohali (Punjab) with 1755, Amritsar (Punjab) with 1675,  Churu (Rajasthan) with 4640, Alwar (Rajasthan) with 4180, Bharatpur (Rajasthan) with 1605,  Ajmer (Rajasthan) with 1977, Meerut (U.P.) with 2461, Ghaziabad (U.P) with 2442, Kanpur Nagar (U.P.) with 3789, Allahabad (U.P.) with 3299,  Jhansi (U.P.) with 2070, Gorakhpur (U.P.) with 3067, Ballia (U.P.) with 2372, Basti (U.P.) with 1947, Dehradun (Uttarakhand) with 1225, Trissur (Kerala) with 6391,  Ernakulam (Kerala) with 2951, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) with 1782, Belgaum (Karnataka) with 2221, Tirunelveli (Tamil Naidu) with 1242, Vadodara (Gujarat) with 2079, Surat (Gujarat) with 2585, Anand (Gujarat) with 1708, Jalgaon (Maharashtra) with 2020, Nagpur (Maharashtra) with 2337, Nanded (Maharashtra) with 5488, Thane (Maharashtra) with 3636,  Mumbai(Suburban) (Maharashtra) with 2834, Indore (M.P.) with 2652, Jabalpur (M.P.) with 2463, Bhopal (M.P.) with 2160, Durg (Chhattisgarh) with 2593, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) with 3329, Karimnagar (Telangana) with 1338.

5-Aug-2022: Promotion of e-Lok Adalat

Steps taken by Legal Services Authorities to promote e-Lok Adalats include - Standard Operating Procedure for conduct of e-Lok Adalat, Technical training through System officers to the Court Staff, WhatsApp groups for litigants, advocates and respondents for conveying them relevant information/ link for attending e-Lok Adalats and Video conferencing link and cause list displayed on the website of the District Courts.

Lok Adalat is not a permanent establishment and is organised at such intervals as felt required with a view to reduce pendency of cases in courts and settle disputes at pre-litigation stage. During the covid pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ingeniously integrated technology to move Lok Adalat on to the virtual platform, better known as e-Lok Adalats. Since e-Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously with regular Lok Adalats, benches are constituted on the basis of volume of cases referred by various courts or tribunals and institutions for pre-litigation cases.

The first e-Lok Adalat was held in Madhya Pradesh on 27.06.2020. 

The Lok Adalats are most effective mode of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in arresting the mounting arrears of the Courts including High Courts. 38.36 lakh pre-litigation cases and 8.34 lakh pending cases in Courts have been disposed of by e-Lok Adalats during June, 2020 to June, 2022.

22-Jul-2022: Legal Aid Programme

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society including beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the Act, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunities.

For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been setup from the Taluk Court level to the Supreme Court. The activities/programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities include legal aid and advice; legal awareness programmes ; legal services/empowerment camps ; legal services clinics ; legal literacy clubs ; Lok Adalats and implementation of victim compensation scheme. Funds under Grant-in-Aid are allocated and sanctioned to NALSA by the Government on yearly basis.

To enable equitable access to justice, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has launched Legal Services Mobile App on Android and iOS versions to enable easy access to legal aid to common citizens.

Further, a scheme on Access to Justice titled “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India“ has been launched with aim to strengthen pre-litigation advice and consultation through Tele-Law: Reaching the Unreached; ensure  pan - India dispensation framework to deliver Pro Bono legal Services through Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) programme; facilitate disposal of 15 year old pending cases at the district level through its Nyaya Mitra programme and to  empower citizens through Pan India legal literacy and legal awareness programme. The Scheme embeds use of technology and developing contextualized IEC (Information, Education and Communication) material in regional / local dialect to supports its intervention and to achieve easy accessibility of legal services to the poor and weakest sections of the society.

22-Jul-2022: Lok Adalats

Every year, NALSA issues calendar for the year for organising National Lok Adalats. During 2022, National Lok Adalats were organized on 12th March and 14th May and is further scheduled to be held on 13th August and 12th November. State Lok Adalats are organised by State Legal Services Authorities as per local conditions and needs.

The State Legal Services Authorities have been issued guidelines/ directions by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) vide National Legal Services Authority (Lok Adalat) Regulations, 2009 to organise more Lok Adalats so that pendency of cases could be reduced. Further in view of Covid, E-Lok Adalat was introduced which significantly improved access to justice for people who were otherwise unable to physically participate in the Lok Adalats. The first E-Lok Adalat was held on 27.06.2020 and since then E-Lok Adalats have been organized in 28 States / UTs wherein 188.62 lakh cases were taken up and more than 46.71 lakh cases disposed of.

25-Mar-2022: National Legal Services Authority

National Legal Services Authorities (NALSA) has undertaken several measures to make available affordable, quality and speedy justice to the common man. The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 provides free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society including beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the Act to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunities.

For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been set up from the Taluk Court levels to the Supreme Court. During the period from April, 2021 to January, 2022, 62.21 lakhs persons have been provided with free legal services and 133.27 lakhs cases (pending in courts and disputes at pre-litigation stage) have been settled through Lok Adalats. Legal Aid Clinics have also been set up in jails, observation homes, juvenile justice boards which are manned by panel lawyers and para legal volunteers of legal services authorities. Further, to enable equitable access to justice, NALSA has also launched Legal Services Mobile App on Android and iOS Version to enable easy access to legal aid to common citizens.

The Legal Services Authorities under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) moved Lok Adalat to the virtual platform known as E-Lok Adalat. The first E-Lok Adalat was held in the month of June, 2020. From June, 2020 to January, 2022, 23.49 lakh pre-litigation cases and pending cases in courts have been disposed of by E-Lok Adalats.

12-Jan-2022: Emergence of Lok Adalat as the most efficacious tool of Alternative Dispute Resolution

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) is committed to deliver prompt and inexpensive justice to the citizens. Recently, it has decided to lay more emphasis on contribution of National Lok Adalat in effectively reducing the number of pending cases through Alternative Dispute Mechanisms.

To achieve this goal, the Legal Services Authorities shifted to dynamic preparation strategies for organization of the Lok Adalats. As a preparatory measure, NALSA started organization of prior consultative and review meetings with all the State Legal Services Authorities to guide them towards the maximum disposal during such Lok Adalats. Before the organization of each National Lok Adalat, multiple interactions were organised with the Executive Chairpersons of all the State Legal Services Authorities, wherein one-to-one interactions were made to take a stock of the preparations as well as to boost the morale of the stakeholders tasked to organize the Lok Adalats.

A cumulative effect of all the preparatory and mobilization measures resulted in extraordinary disposal figures during the year 2021. Across the country, a total number of 1,27,87,329 cases were disposed of in four National Lok Adalats, which included a huge number of pending cases i.e., 55,81,117 and a record number of pre-litigation cases i.e., 72,06,212. Through these activities the Legal Services Authorities disposed off a large number of cases giving relief to the common citizens by ending or preventing long lasting legal battles.

Achieving these unprecedented disposal figures was not an easy task. A major contribution to this success can be attributed to the technological advancements. In June 2020, the Legal Services Authorities integrated technology with the conventional modes of dispute settlement and introduced virtual Lok Adalats also called as ‘E-Lok Adalats’. Since then, all the Lok Adalats including National Lok Adalats are organized through virtual and hybrid modes. To provide an unhindered experience during the proceedings, the Legal Services Authorities across the country are continuously upgrading their digital infrastructure.

Due to these technological advancements, Lok Adalats have reached to the doorsteps of the parties. The parties are now able to join the Lok Adalat proceedings from their homes or workplaces, saving them the hassle of travelling and reserving a full day for an affair, which gets over within minutes. The Authorities have witnessed that a large number of persons joined the virtual proceedings sitting hundreds of kilometers away from the physical location where the Lok Adalat was organized. Technology has also provided effective ways of supervision and monitoring of Lok Adalats.

The other major factor in the success of Lok Adalats was the formulation of decisive strategies at the National level. Under these strategies, the State Legal Services Authorities were instructed to conduct meetings with various stakeholder across every level with an objective to ensure their full cooperation and coordination. The authorities were guided to follow a litigant friendly approach as well as to persuade such litigants to settle the cases involving settled propositions of law.

Moreover, certain areas of law having greater possibilities of settlement such as NI Act cases, Bank recovery cases along other financial matters were highlighted and authorities were instructed to explore all the possibilities of compromise in such cases. The authorities were advised to proactively monitor the issuance and completion of processes in such financial matters as well as to conduct pre-Lok Adalat sittings to take a matter to a settlement.

There is no doubt regarding the fact that the number of pending cases surged during the ongoing pandemic. However, with a large number of disposals through Lok Adalats, a balance was created by the Legal Services Authorities in the judicial administration of the country. There is no gainsaying that the Lok Adalats settled greater number of cases than any other dispute resolution mechanism and emerged as the most efficacious tool of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism.

During the year, the category wise list of the disposed cases was topped by the Criminal Compoundable Cases, wherein a total number of 17,63,233 such pending cases and 18,67,934 pre-litigation cases were disposed. The second in line were the Revenue cases consisting of 11,59,794 pre-litigation and 14,99,558 pending cases. Apart from these, the other disposed of cases were cheque bounce cases under NI Act, Bank Recovery Cases, Motor Accident Claims, Labour Disputes, matrimonial cases, etc.