Lok Adalats

Why in news?

• Over 450 prisoners have walked free in Chhattisgarh after Lok Adalats were set up in jails across the State.  It is a first-of-its-kind initiative anywhere in India. It will help reduce jail congestion.

About Lok Adalats:

• NALSA along with other Legal Services Institutions conducts Lok Adalats.
• Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, it is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably.
• Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Under the said Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties .

Appeals:

• No appeal can be made against awards of Lok Adalats in any court.
• If the parties are not satisfied with the award of the Lok Adalat though there is no provision for an appeal against such an award, but they are free to initiate litigation by approaching the court of appropriate jurisdiction by filing a case by following the required procedure, in exercise of their right to litigate.

Members of the Lok Adalats:

• The persons deciding the cases in the Lok Adalats are called the Members of the Lok Adalats, they have the role of statutory conciliators only and do not have any judicial role
• Therefore they can only persuade the parties to come to a conclusion for settling the dispute outside the court in the Lok Adalat and shall not pressurize or coerce any of the parties to compromise or settle cases or matters either directly or indirectly.
• The Lok Adalat shall not decide the matter so referred at its own instance, instead the same would be decided on the basis of the compromise or settlement between the parties.
• The members shall assist the parties in an independent and impartial manner in their attempt to reach amicable settlement of their dispute.

Cost-effective:

• There is no court fee payable when a matter is filed in a Lok Adalat.
• If a matter pending in the court of law is referred to the Lok Adalat and is settled subsequently, the court fee originally paid in the court on the complaints/petition is also refunded back to the parties.

Nature of Cases to be Referred to Lok Adalat

• 1. Any case pending before any court.
• 2. Any dispute which has not been brought before any court and is likely to be filed before the court.
• Provided that any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under the law shall NOT be settled in Lok Adalat.

Levels and Composition of Lok Adalats:

• At the State Authority Level:
  • The Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority organizing the Lok Adalat would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat, each bench comprising of:
    • A sitting or retired judge of the High Court or a sitting or retired judicial officer and any one or both of- a member from the legal profession
    • A social worker engaged in the upliftment of the weaker sections and interested in the implementation of legal services schemes or programmes.
• At High Court Level:
  • The Secretary of the High Court Legal Services Committee would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat.
• At District Level:
  • The Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority organizing the Lok Adalat would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat.
• At Taluk Level:
  • The Secretary of the Taluk Legal Services Committee organizing the Lok Adalat would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat.

National Lok Adalat:

• National Level Lok Adalats are held for at regular intervals where on a single day Lok Adalats are held throughout the country, in all the courts right from the Supreme Court till the Taluk Levels wherein cases are disposed off in huge numbers.
• From 2015, National Lok Adalats are being held on a specific subject matter every month.

Permanent Lok Adalat

• The other type of Lok Adalat is the Permanent Lok Adalat, organized under Section 22-B of The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Permanent Lok Adalats have been set up as permanent bodies with a Chairman and two members for providing compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for conciliation and settlement of cases relating to Public Utility Services like transport, postal, telegraph etc.
• Here, even if the parties fail to reach to a settlement, the Permanent Lok Adalat gets jurisdiction to decide the dispute, provided, the dispute does not relate to any offence.
• Further, the Award of the Permanent Lok Adalat is final and binding on all the parties.
• The jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalats is upto Rs. Ten Lakhs

Mobile Lok Adalats 

• Mobile Lok Adalats are also organized in various parts of the country which travel from one location to another to resolve disputes in order to facilitate the resolution of disputes through this mechanism.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding Lok Adalats:

1. Members of the Lok Adalats have the role of statutory conciliators only and do not have any judicial role.

2. There is no court fee payable when a matter is filed in a Lok Adalat

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer