Professional Documents
Culture Documents
_________________________________________
LOK ADALAT
_________________________________________
NALSA along with other Legal Services Institutions conducts Lok Adalat’s. 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 Adalat’s have been given statutory status under the
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Under the said Act, the award (decision)
made by the Lok Adalat’s 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
Adalat’s are called the Members of the Lok Adalat’s, 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.
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.
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 organised.
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 Case Referred 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
prelitigation 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.
Levels and Composition of Lok Adalat’s:
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 Adalat’s are held for at regular intervals where on a single
day Lok Adalat’s are held throughout the country, in all the courts right from the
Supreme Court till the Taluk Levels wherein cases are disposed of in huge
numbers. From February 2015, National Lok Adalat’s 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
Adalat’s 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 Adalat’s 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’s 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.
As on 30.09.2015, more than 15.14 lakhs Lok Adalat’s have been organized in
the country since its inception. More than 8.25 crore cases have been settled by
this mechanism so far.
Case 2: PL No.7617/2022
Petitioner: S. Vinod
Respondent: Arayoor Service Co-operative Bank
The petitioner was denied by the bank from getting a loan from Arayoor service
co-operative bank, three different amounts were given as loan and the petitioner
didn’t repay any of the amount so borrowed from the bank. The petitioner
contended that the present loan was not availed by the petitioner as the loan was
taken by his father as it was his father’s liability to repay the loan and he didn’t
have any kind of liability in settling the loan amount indebted by his father. The
respondent contended that the petitioner is not eligible for a further loan from the
bank due to the three present loans the petitioner’s father owes to the bank and
hence was denied any loan. The petitioner further made clear that the loan availed
by his father didn’t incur him any liability and he, if given some more time will
be in a position to repay the entire amount for which he needed a renewed loan
from the bank. The petitioner was engaged in the business of real estate and he
incurred some loss in the business due to the pandemic and it became impossible
for him to overcome the financial crisis he got into without getting this loan
amount which he applied to the bank and was denied. The respondent denied his
eligibility on the sole ground of his father’s indebtedness towards the bank. After
a detailed discussion a mutual consensus was developed between the petitioner
as well as the respondent. The decision was, since both the petitioner as well as
the respondent was present, the respondent agreed to renew the present loan.
There were 3 loans, one of the loans was to be closed by the petitioner’s father
by paying an amount of Rs 20,000/-(Twenty Thousand only) within a time span
of one and a half month and in default the petitioner’s father shall pay Rs 33,000/-
(Thirty-Three Thousand only). Thereafter the petitioner’s loan was to be
renewed. A principal amount of Rs 30,000/- (Thirty Thousand Only) was to be
given after that. Hence the matter was settled accordingly.
Case 3: PL 4533/2022
Petitioner: Rakesh Sadashivan and others
Respondents: Ajith Kumar and others
This was a mass petition which was filed by 14 persons who were denied the
usage of amenities in the villament area of a combined villa- villament project.
The project was constructed on 46 acres of land and was divided between villa
and villament residents. The villament residents were denied from using
amenities like swimming pool, play grounds and so on. The petitioners who are
villament residents claim that even sharing the same compound they are being
treated unfairly and also the association for deciding matters relating to both the
villas as well as villament considered of representatives who are majority of villa
residents and there weren’t any sufficient representation from villament side
which was highly disproportionate .The villa residents who were the respondents
contended that the agreement which they signed before the proposed project was
constructed contained clauses that supports their actions and hence their action
were justifiable and the villament residents contentions cannot be dealt with. The
villament residents rejected this contention and stated that 46 residents were there
in villament project and none of their voices are heard at association meetings
and none or their demands are met with due to their low representation in the
association committee. The petitioners demanded to bring common amenities to
be used in a proportionate manner by both the villa as well as the villament
residents and there should be equal number representatives from both villa as well
as villament residents. The respondents opposed this by stating that it will be a
violation of the rules that the villa and the villament residents created for
facilitating the activities in the area and hence there was a problem with the rules
it is to be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction and the matter was referred
to the court.
Case 4: PL 5483/2021
Petitioner: Leelamma
Respondent: Secretary Pothencode Grama Panchayath
The petitioner was a school teacher by profession. The petitioner was working as
a teacher in Pothencode LP school and was removed from service by the
management. The petitioner contended that she was purposefully terminated from
service to appoint the relative of the panchayath president of Pothencode grama
panchayath. She also alleges that she was terminated from service just after the
government has increased the salary benefits for the teachers of the concerned
school. The secretary of the Pothencode grama panchayath is the respondent in
the present case and was present before the members for hearing and had denied
the contention of the petitioner by stating that there has not been any kind of
interference from the president’s side for the appointment of his relative and the
petitioner’s side is devoid of any merit. Both sides put forwarded their arguments
before the members and the petitioner bought into consideration of the board that
she was not given any kind of retirement benefits that she was entitled to and was
illegally removed from service, she emotionally stated that she didn’t have any
proper means to live now and take care of her sick husband.
As the proceedings progressed and after hearing both sides and all their arguments
the members suggested the panchayath secretary to consider giving her the
retirement benefits that she is entitled to, considering her financial position as she
couldn’t legally prove her termination was unlawful and on humanitarian
grounds. Both the parties agreed each other on the amount of settlement for which
the petitioner was entitled and the dispute was resolved accordingly.
Case 5: PL 6865/2022
Petitioner: Venakatachalam
Respondent: Dhanuraj
The petitioner was looking for a bride for his son. The respondent approached the
petitioner claiming to be a marriage broker and convinced him that he will help
the petitioner to find a bride for his son. The respondent helped the petitioner to
find a bride for his son and their marriage was fixed. Then one day the respondent
approached the petitioner that he needs some money urgently to help the bride’s
father who met with an accident and hence needed the money.
The petitioner gave the money to the respondent and after the marriage the
petitioner realised that the respondent borrowed from him more money than what
was required. The petitioner demanded the remaining amount to be repaid but
was denied. The board after hearing the matter referred the matter to a criminal
court as there is a clear offence of cheating.