Figure 1: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Context

• Recently, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has decided to further focus on National Lok Adalat's contribution to effectively reducing the number of pending proceedings through the alternative dispute resolution process.

Measures to strengthen the Lok Adalat:

• Legal authorities have switched to a dynamic preparatory strategy for the organization of Lok Adalat.
• As a preliminary measure, NALSA has organized preliminary consultations and review meetings with legal services agencies in all states to guide them towards maximum disposition during such Lok Adalat.
• Before each National Lok Adalat is organized, there will be some interaction with the Executive Committee Chairs of all State Legal Affairs Bureaus in a one-on-one meeting to consider preparations and morale of the stakeholders responsible for organizing Lok.

About Lok Adalat

• Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
• This is a forum for amicable resolution / resolution of pending disputes / cases prior to court or trial.
• Article 39a: The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 introduced Article 39a, which requires states to ensure the functioning of the legal system.
• Promote justice on an equal opportunity basis, Providing free legal assistance by appropriate law or scheme or other means, Prevent citizens from being denied the opportunity to seek justice because of financial or other obstacles.

Legal status:

• Lok Adalats was granted legal status under the Legal Authority Act of 1987.

Lok Adalat's decision:

• In accordance with the law, Lok Adalats' rulings (decisions) are considered civil court decisions, making all parties final and binding and no appeal can be filed against such rulings.
• However, if the parties are not satisfied with Lok Adalat's ruling, there is no provision for appeal against such ruling, but they are free to file a proceeding by filing a proceeding in accordance with the prescribed provisions and applying to the court of jurisdiction.

 

Court costs:

• There are no legal costs incurred if a problem is raised with Lok Adalat.
• If a problem pending in court is referred to Lok Adalat and subsequently resolved, the parties will also be reimbursed for the court costs originally paid in court for the complaint / application.

 

Roles of Lok Adalats members:

The people who decide the case at Lok Adalats are called members of Lok Adalats and have only the role of legal arbitrator, not the judicial role. Therefore, they can only persuade the parties to resolve the dispute outside the court of Lok Adalat.

Differences between Lok Adalat and regular dishes:

Court	Lok Adalat
Fixed Premise	Mobile Premise
Presence of Lawyer	Can represent themselves
Forum of the state	Forum of the citizens and stakeholders to provide the justice
Appeals can go to higher court	No appeal
Settlement through legal mechanism	Settlement through mediation

 

Importance and consequences of such measures:

• A total of 1,27,87,329 cases were resolved in four National Lok Adalats This includes a number of pending cases.
• Through these activities, legal authorities have brought relief to the general public by resolving numerous proceedings and ending or preventing long-term proceedings.
• With technological advances like ELok Adalats, Lok Adalats has reached the doorstep of the party The formulation of key strategies at the national level was also successful.
• As part of these strategies, state legal authorities are instructed to hold meetings with various stakeholders at all levels to ensure full cooperation and coordination.
• Authorities have taken a pre-litigation approach, convincing such parties to the proceedings and being guided to settle the proceedings in the final legislation.
• Lok Adalat is a system of justice created to address the problem of bringing justice to people cheaply and quickly.

 

Conclusion

• Numerous injunctions by Lok Adalats have been balanced by the legal authorities of the state's judicial administration.
• It is undeniable that Lok Adalats has resolved more cases than any other dispute resolution mechanism and has emerged as the most effective tool for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.