BANGALORE UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY LAW COLLEGE AND

DEPARTMENT OF STUDIES IN LAW

CLINICAL COURSE PAPER 3

Report on

‘ CHAPTER VI AND VI A OF LEGAL SERVICES

AUTHORITIES ACT, 1987’

Submitted to
Dr Chandrakanthi L
Assistant Professor
University law College and Department of Studies in Law
Bangalore University, Bangalore- 560056

Submitted by
Mohan Krishna
15LUL09049
X Semester B.A, LLB (5 Years)
University law College and Department of Studies in Law
Bangalore University, Bangalore- 560056

2020
 Contents

1. Introduction
2. Organisation and Features of lok Adalat
3. Chapter VI (Lok Adalat) of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
4. Chapter VI (Pre Litigation Conciliation and Settlement) of
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
5. Case Laws With Reference to Chapter VI and VIA
6. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
LOK ADALAT:

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 and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law. 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.

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. 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.

ORGANISATION AND FEATURES OF LOK ADALAT

LEGISLATION PERTAINING TO LOK ADALAT
The advent of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 gave a statutory status to Lok
Adalats, pursuant to the constitutional mandate in Article 39-A of the Constitution of
India, contains various provisions for settlement of disputes through Lok Adalat.

It is an Act to constitute legal services authorities to provide free and competent legal
services to the weaker sections of the society 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 opportunity.

NATURE OF CASES TO BE REFFERED 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.

WHICH LOK ADALAT TO BE APPROACHED:

As per section 18(1) of the Act, a Lok Adalat shall have jurisdiction to determine and
to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties to a dispute in respect of -
(1) Any case pending before; or
(2) Any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of, and is not brought before,
any court for which the Lok Adalat is organized.
Provided that the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of matters relating
to divorce or matters relating to an offence not compoundable under any law.

HOW TO GET THE CASES REFFERED TO THE LOK ADALAT FOR

SETTLEMENT
 (A) Case pending before the court.
(B) Any dispute at pre-litigative stage.

The State Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority as the case
may be on receipt of an application from any one of the parties at a pre-litigation stage
may refer such matter to the Lok Adalat for amicable settlement of the dispute for
which notice would then be issued to the other party.

SALIENT FEATURES OF LOK ADALAT:

 It is based on settlement or compromise reached through systematic negotiations.
 It is a win - win system where all the parties to the dispute have something to
gain.
 It is one among the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) systems. It is an
alternative to "Judicial Justice".
 It is economical - No court fee is payable. If any court fee is paid, it will be
refunded.
 The parties to a dispute can interact directly with the presiding officer, which is
not possible in the case of a court proceeding.
 Lok Adalat is deemed to be civil court for certain purposes.
 Lok Adalat is having certain powers of a civil court.
 The award passed by the Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court.
 An award passed by the Lok Adalat is final and no appeal is maintainable from it.
 An award passed by the Lok Adalat can be executed in a court.
 The award can be passed by Lok Adalat, only after obtaining the assent of all the
parties to dispute.
 Code of Civil Procedure and Indian Evidence Act are not applicable to the
proceedings of Lok Adalat.
 A Permanent Lok Adalat can pass an award on merits, even without the consent
of parties. Such an award is final and binding. From that no appeal is possible.

LEVELS AND COMPOSITION OF LOK ADALAT

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, each bench comprising of a sitting or retired judge of the High
Court 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 District Level
The Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority organizing the Lok Adalat
would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat, each bench comprising of a sitting or
retired judicial officer and any one or both of either a member from the legal
profession; and/or a social worker engaged in the upliftment of the weaker sections
and interested in the implementation of legal services schemes or programmes or a
person engaged in para-legal activities of the area, preferably a woman.

AT TALUK LEVEL
The Secretary of the Taluk Legal Services Committee organizing the Lok Adalat
would constitute benches of the Lok Adalat, each bench comprising of a sitting or
retired judicial officer and any one or both of either a member from the legal
profession; and/or a social worker engaged in the upliftment of the weaker sections
and interested in the implementation of legal services schemes or programmes or a
person engaged in para-legal activities of the area, preferably a woman.

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.

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 up to Rs. Ten Lakhs. Here if the parties fail to reach to a
settlement, the Permanent Lok Adalat has the jurisdiction to decide the case. The
award of the Permanent Lok Adalat is final and binding upon the parties. The Lok
Adalat may conduct the proceedings in such a manner as it considers appropriate,
taking into account the circumstances of the case, wishes of the parties like requests to
hear oral statements, speedy settlement of dispute etc.

MOBILE LOK ADALAT

They 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.

BENEFITS OF LOK ADALAT

The benefits that litigants derive through the Lok Adalats are many.

 First, there is no court fee and even if the case is already filed in the regular court,
the fee paid will be refunded if the dispute is settled at the Lok Adalat.
 Secondly, there is no strict application of the procedural laws and the Evidence
Act while assessing the merits of the claim by the Lok Adalat. The parties to the
 disputes though represented by their advocate can interact with the Lok Adalat
judge directly and explain their stand in the dispute and the reasons therefore,
which is not possible in a regular court of law.
 Thirdly, disputes can be brought before the Lok Adalat directly instead of going
to a regular court first and then to the Lok Adalat.
 Fourthly, the decision of the Lok Adalat is binding on the parties to the dispute
and its order is capable of execution through legal process. No appeal lies against
the order of the Lok Adalat whereas in the regular law courts there is always a
scope to appeal to the higher forum on the decision of the trial court, which
causes delay in the settlement of the dispute finally. The reason being that in a
regular court, decision is that of the court but in Lok Adalat it is mutual
settlement and hence no case for appeal will arise. In every respect the scheme of
Lok Adalat is a boon to the litigant public, where they can get their disputes
settled fast and free of cost.
 Last but not the least, faster and inexpensive remedy with legal status.

Chapter VI - Lok Adalats-

Section 19 - Organization of Lok Adalats

(1) Every State Authority or District Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services
Committee or every High Court Legal Services Committee or, as the case may be,
Taluk Legal Services Committee may organize Lok Adalats at such intervals and
places and for exercising such jurisdiction and for such areas as it thinks fit.

(2) Every Lok Adalat organised for an area shall consist of such number of :-

(a) Serving or retired judicial officers and

(b) Other persons,of the area as may be specified by the State Authority or the District
Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the High Court Legal
Services Committee, or as the case may be, the Taluk Legal Services Committee,
organising such Lok Adalats.

(3) The experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of sub-
section (2) for Lok Adalats organised by the Supreme Court Legal Services
Committee shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government in
consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

(4) The experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of sub-
section (2) for Lok Adalats other than referred to in sub-section (3) shall be such as
may be prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of
the High Court.

(5) A Lok Adalat shall have jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at a compromise or
settlement between the parties to a dispute in respect of :-

(i) Any case pending before or

(ii) Any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of, and is not brought before,
any court for which the Lok Adalat is organised.

Provided that the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any case or
matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any law.

Section 20. Cognizance of Cases by Lok Adalats

(1) Where in any case referred to in clause (i) of sub-section (5) of Section 19-(i)

(i) (a) The parties thereof agree or

(i) (b) One of the parties thereof makes an application to the court, for referring the
case to the Lok Adalat for settlement and if such court is prima facie satisfied that
there are chances of such settlement or
(ii) The court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to be taken cognizance
of by the Lok Adalat, the court shall refer the case to the Lok Adalat: Provided that no
case shall be referred to the Lok Adalat under sub-clause (b) of clause ( i) or clause
(ii) by such court except after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the
parties.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,
the Authority or Committee organising the Lok Adalat under sub-section (1) of
Section 19 may, on receipt of an application from any, one of the parties to any matter
referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (5) of Section 19 that such matter needs to
be determined by a Lok Adalat, refer such matter to the Lok Adalat, for
determination; Provided that no matter shall be referred to the Lok Adalat except after
giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the other party. 

(3) Where any case is referred to a Lok Adalat under sub-section (1) or where a
reference has been made to it under sub-section (2), the Lok Adalat shall proceed to
dispose of the case or matter and arrive at a compromise or settlement between the
parties.

(4) Every Lok Adalat shall, while determining any reference before it under this Act,
act with utmost expedition to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties
and shall be guided by the principles of justice equity, fair play and other legal
principles.

(5) Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or
settlement could be arrived at between the parties, the record of the case shall be
returned by it to the court, from which the reference has been received under sub-
section (1) for disposal in accordance with law.

(6) Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or
settlement could be arrived at between the parties, in a matter referred to in sub-
section (2), that Lok Adalat shall advice the parties to seek remedy in a court.

(7) Where the record of the case is returned under sub-section (5) to the court, such
court shall proceed to deal such reference under sub-section (1).

Section 21. Award of Lok Adalat

(1) Every award of the Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a decree of a civil court or,
as the case may be, an order of any other court and where a compromise or settlement
has been arrived at, by a Lok Adalat in a case referred to under sub-section (1) of
Section 20, the court-fee paid in such case shall be refunded in the manner
provided under the Court Fees Act, 1870 (7 of 1870).

(2) Every award made by a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to
the dispute, and no appeal shall lie to any court against the award.
Section 22. Powers of Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat

(1) The Lok Adalat shall, for the purposes of holding any determination under this
Act, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit in respect of the following matters,
namely:-

(a) The summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him
on oath.

(b) The discovery and production of any document.

(c) The reception of evidence on affidavits.

(d) The requisitioning of any public record or document or copy of such record or
document from any court or office and

(e) Such other matters as may be prescribed.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers contained in sub-section (1),
every Lok Adalat shall have the requisite powers to specify its own procedure for the
determination of any dispute coming before it.

(3) All proceedings before a Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings
within the meaning of Sections 193, 219 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of
1860) and every Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purpose of
Section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973(2 of 1974).

Chapter VI A - Pre-Litigation Conciliation And

Settlement-
Section 22A. Definitions

In this chapter and for the purposes the Section 22 and 23, unless the context other
requires.
(a) “Permanent  Lok Adalat” means a Permanent  Lok Adalat established under sub-
section (1) of Section 22 B.

(b) “public utility service” means any –

(i) Transport  services for the carriage of passengers or goods by air, road or water or

(ii) Postal telegraph or telegraph or telephone service or

(iii) Supply of power, light or water to the public by any establishment or

(iv) Postal telegraph or telegraph or telephone service or

(v) Service in hospital or dispensary or

(vi) Insurance  service,

and includes any service which the Central Government or the State Government, as
the case may be, may in the public interest, by notification, declare to be a public
utility service for the purposes of this Chapter.

Section 22B. Establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 19, the Central Authority or, as the
case may be, every State Authority shall, be notification, establish Permanent  Lok
Adalat at such places and for exercising such jurisdiction in respect of one or more
public utility services and for such areas as may be specified in the notification.

(2) Every Permanent Lok Adalat  established for an area notified under sub-section
(1) shall consist of :-

(a) A person who is, or has been, a district judge or additional district judge or has
held judicial office higher in rank than that of a district judge, shall be the Chairman
of the Permanent  Lok Adalat and

(b) Two other persons having adequate experience in public utility services to be

nominated by the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government
on the recommendation of the Central Authority or, as the case may, the State
Authority, establishing such Permanent Lok Adalat and the other terms and conditions
of the appointment of the Chairman and other persons referred to in clause (b) shall be
prescribed by the Central Government.

Section 22C. Cognizance of cases by Permanent Lok Adalat

(1) Any party to a dispute may, before the dispute is brought before nay court, make
an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat for the settlement of dispute; Provided
that the Permanent Lok Adalat shall not have jurisdiction in respect of any matter
relating to an offence not compoundable under any law; Provided further that the
Permanent Lok Adalat shall also not have jurisdiction in the matter where the value of
the property in dispute exceeds ten lakh rupees;
Provided also that the Central Government, may, by notification, increase the limit of
ten lakh specified in the second proviso in consultation with the Central Authority.
(2) After an application is made under sub-section (1) to the Permanent Lok Adalat,
no party to that application shall invoke jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute.
(3) where an application is made to a Permanent Lok Adalat under sub-section (1), it

 (a) shall direct each party to the application to file before it a written
statement, stating therein the facts and nature of dispute under the application,
points or issues in such dispute and grounds relied in support of, or in
opposition to, such points or issues, as the case may be, and such party may
supplement such statement with any document and other evidence which such
party deems appropriate in proof of such facts and grounds and shall send a
copy of such statement together with a copy of such document and other
evidence, if any, to each of the parties to the applicant;
 (b) may require any party to the application to file additional statement before
it at any stage of the conciliation proceedings;
 (c) shall communicate any document or statement received by it from any
party to the application to the other party, to enable such other party to present
reply thereto.

(4) When statement, additional statement and reply, if any, have been filed under sub-
section (3), to the satisfaction of the Permanent Lok Adalat, it shall conduct
conciliation proceedings between the parties to the application in such manner as it
thinks appropriate taking into account the circumstance of the dispute.
(5) The Permanent Lok Adalat shall, during conduct of conciliation proceedings under
sub-section (4), assist the parties in their attempt to reach an amicable settlement of
the dispute in an independent and impartial manner.
(6) It shall be the duty of every party to the application to cooperate in good faith with
the Permanent Lok Adalat in conciliation of the dispute relating to the application and
to comply with the direction of the Permanent Lok Adalat to produce evidence and
other related documents before it.

(7) When a Permanent Lok Adalat, in the aforesaid conciliation proceedings, is of

opinion that there exist elements of settlement in such proceedings which may be
acceptable to the parties, it may formulate the terms of a possible settlement of the
dispute and give to the parties concerned for their observations and in case the parties
reach at an agreement on the settlement or the dispute, they shall sign the settlement
agreement and the Permanent Lok Adalat shall pass an award in terms thereof and
furnish a copy of the same to each of the parties concerned.
(8) (8) Where the parties fail to reach at an agreement under sub-section (7), the
Permanent Lok Adalat shall, if the dispute does not relate to any offence, decide the
dispute.

Section 22D. Procedure of Permanent Lok Adalat

The Permanent Lok Adalat shall, while conducting conciliation proceedings or

deciding a dispute on merit under this Act, be guided by the principles of natural
justice, objectivity fail play, equity and other principles of justice, and shall not be
bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

Section 22E. Award of Permanent Lok Adalat to be Final

(1) Every award of the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act made either on merit or
in terms of a settlement agreement shall be final and binding on all the parties thereto
and on persons claiming under them.

(2) Every award of the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act shall be deemed to be a
decree of a civil court.

(3) The award made by the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act shall be by a
majority of the persons constituting the Permanent Lok Adalat.

(4) Every award made by the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act shall be final and
shall not be called in question in any original suit, application or execution
proceedings.

(5) The Permanent Lok Adalat may transmit any award made by it to a Civil Court
having local Jurisdiction and such civil court shall execute the order as if it were a
decree made by that court.

CASE LAWS WITH REFERENCE TO CHAPTER VI

AND VI A OF LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES
ACT, 1987

Premium Acres Infrastructure ... vs Permanent Lok Adalat

A Ahmed Pasha And Anr. vs C. Gulnaz Jabeen

M.I. Ibrahim Kutty vs Indian Overseas Bank

Tata Aig General Insurance Co vs Mrs.Bandana Devi

United India Insurance Co. Ltd., ... vs Shaikh Akbar Najir And Another

Durgam Rayalingu vs The Chairman Mandal Legal

Dulal Sengupta vs State Of Jharkhand & Ors

CONCLUSION
Lok Adalat is considered to be one of the best Alternative Disputes
Resolution Systems. Just like every other system, Lok Adalat is also
having several virtues and it suffers from few ill as well. As it is rightly
said that, “Justice delayed is a Justice denied but Justice hurried is a
Justice buried”. Keeping this fact in mind, the higher judiciary in many of
its judgments directed that, the speedy proceeding conducted by way of
Lok Adalat should not impair the right of any party.
The lawyers are sometimes reluctant to refer the matter for
settlement in Lok Adalat. Sometimes parties may pressurize their lawyer
to stick up to the strict process of court. The High Court1
observed, “In
the name of the speedy resolution of disputes, the fair interests of the
parties cannot be sacrificed, more importantly when the petitioners
involved are minors, insane and disabled.” While expressing its lamented
remark about the present Lok-Adalat system, the Kerala High Court
pointed out the drawback as –
“However, the major drawback in the existing scheme of
organization of the Lok Adalat under Chapter VI of the Legal Services
Authorities Act is that the system of Lok Adalat is mainly based on

1 Manju Gupta V National Insurance Company,I (1994) ACC 242, 1994 ACJ 1036
196
compromise or settlement between the parties. If the parties do not arrive
at any compromise or settlement, the case is either returned to the court of
law or the parties are advised to seek remedy in a court of law. This
causes unnecessary delay in the dispensation of justice. If Lok Adalat has
given power to decide the cases on merits in case parties fail to arrive at
any compromise or settlement, this problem can be tackled to a great
extent”. However this defect has been removed in permanent Lok-Adalat.
It has also been observed that since the forum of Lok-Adalat are headed
by the person from judiciary, they assume the role of Lok-Adalat as
judicial forum and deviate from the basic objectives for which it has been
formed. The Supreme Court has also lamented on this issue.
Alternate Dispute Resolution is rapidly developing at national and
international level, offering simpler methods of resolving disputes.
Increasing trend of ADR services can easily be inferred from the growth
of “Arbitration clause” in majority of contracts. There has been a
significant growth in number of law school courses. Diplomas. Seminars.
Etc. focusing on alternate dispute resolution and rationalizing its
effectualness in processing wide range of dispute in society.
Lastly, the importance of ADR mechanism can be aptly put in the words
of Abraham Lincoln :
“Discourage litigation persuade your neighbours to compromise
whenever you can point out to them how the nominal winner is often a
real loser, in fees, expenses, waste of time.