Lok Adalats

 

1	Lok Adalats in Courts
2	Lok Adalats in Government Department and in statutory bodies
3	Permanent Lok Adalats for Public Utility Services
4	Rural Lok Adalats

1. Lok Adalats in Courts

1.TYPES OF CASES WHICH CAN BE TAKEN UP THEREIN
A Lok Adalat has the jurisdiction to settle, by way of effecting compromise between the parties, any matter which may be pending before any court, as well as matters at pre-litigative stage i.e. disputes which have not yet been formally instituted in any Court of Law. Such matters may be civil or criminal in nature, but any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any law cannot be decided by the Lok Adalat even if the parties involved therein agree to settle the same. Lok adalats can take cognizance of matters involving not only those persons who are entitled to avail free legal services but of all other persons also, be they women, men, or children and even institutions.

2. Anyone, or more of the parties to a dispute can move an application to the court where their matter may be pending, or even at pre-litigative stage, for such matter being taken up in the Lok Adalat whereupon the Lok Adalat Bench constituted for the purpose shall attempt to resolve the dispute by helping the parties to arrive at an amicable solution and once it is successful in doing so, the award passed by it shall be final which has as much force as a decree of a Civil Court obtained after due contest.

3. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (as amended vide Act No. 37 of 2002) provides for setting up of a “Permanent Lok Adalat” which can be approached by any party to a dispute involving “public utility services” which have been defined in the Act (as amended) to include transport services for the carriage of passengers or goods by air, road or water; postal, telegraph or telephone services; insurance service, as also services in hospital or dispensary, supply of power, light or water to the public, besides systems of public conservancy or sanitation. Any civil dispute with a public utility service and where the value of the property in dispute does not exceed Rupees ten lakhs; or any criminal dispute which does not involve an offence not compoundable under any law, can be taken up in the “Permanent Lok Adalat”. An important feature of this amendment is that after an application is made to the Permanent Lok Adalat, no party to that application can invoke jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute. Such disputes involving public utility services shall be attempted to be settled by the Permanent Lok Adalat by way of conciliation and failing that, on merit, and in doing so the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be guided by the principles of natural justice, objectivity, fair play, equity and other principles of justice without being bound by the Code of Civil Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act.
 

2. Lok Adalats in Government Department and in statutory bodies

To enable the Courts to refer more contentious matters to Lok Adalats which can give repeated sittings to the parties, and to enable general public to take their disputes at pre-litigative stage to Lok Adalats for exploring possibility of amicable settlement, Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalats of amicable settlement, a Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalat is functioning in the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh which is headed by a retired Judge of the High Court.

Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalat (redesigned as “Samjhauta Sadans” with effect from 19.7.2002) are also functioning in 10 districts of Haryana viz. Ambala, Panchkula, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Hissar, Karnal,Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak and Sirsa which are headed by retired judicial officers. In the remaining districts and sub-divisional courts of Haryana, serving judicial officers are presiding over such “Samjhauta Sadans” on rotational basis.
 

3.PERMANENT LOK ADALATS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICES

 

4.RURAL LOK ADALAT

HALSA launched a Project 'People's Initiative for Justice'.  Under this project, this Authority has planned to involve the public spirited persons for settlement of disputes and to make the villages of Haryana as 'litigation free' or at least to bring litigation in the villages to bare minimum level. In these Rural Lok Adalats various cases pending between family members, neighbourers with regard to property disputes, common land of the village, bank loan cases, petty criminal cases of such villages and adjoining villages are being taken up for disposal.  These cases were settled with the intervention of Judges, Lawyers, prominent respectable of the village, social worker while being members of Lok Adalats.  These Rural Lok Adalats are getting encouraging response from the villagers and they come in a big way to get their cases settled amicably.  These Rural Lok Adalats prove to be effective platform to spread the legal literacy amongst the masses.  The schemes regarding free legal aid and legal rights and duties of a common man are being explained to the masses in their local language and through the skits, ‘Nukkar Natak’ being performed by Public Relations Department, Haryana and through documentary film ‘Savera’ of HALSA.  HALSA has organized/planned to organize Rural Lok Adalats continuously in future so that the justice may be provided at the door step.