The Supreme Court Judge, Justice U.U. Lalit on Saturday said that Lok Adalats have bridged the gap between the litigants and the institution. Lok Adalats not only provide an efficient substitute to seek redressal, but significantly help in reducing the burden of Courts, pertaining to backlog and pendency of cases, he added.
Lok Adalat have acted as a
great catalyst for change not just in the Legal System but also in the society
over the past few years. They have truly made access to justice easy for
everyone irrespective of their financial status.
Lok Adalat have created
history in the justice dispensation system as it succeeded in providing a
supplementary for the litigants for satisfactory and timely settlement of
their disputes.
There is no doubt about the fact that Lok Adalat have become
the apertures for access to justice for the disadvantaged and underprivileged.
Under the leadership of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Executive Chairman, NALSA, & Chief Justice of India Designate organised the third National Lok Adalat of the year 2022 in all the 35 States/UTs except Delhi on 13 th August. NLA in
Delhi is postponed due to full dress rehearsal and now it will be organised
on 21st August’22.
More than 74 lacs cases have been reported to be settled, when reports last
came in, which includes 16.45 lacs pending and 58.33 lacs pre-litigation
cases.
The total value of the settlement amount is approximately ₹ 5,039
crore. The said disposal would not only result into easing the burden of the
pending cases but also arresting future cases by settling them at pre-
litigation stage.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit took overview of the entire
process and progress of the proceedings. As a preparatory step, Justice U.
U. Lalit himself interacted with the Chairpersons and Member Secretaries
of the State Legal Services Authorities and gave valuable guidance and
motivated all the States to prepare for the Lok Adalat.
During the interaction Justice Lalit highlighted that seeking justice is no longer a luxury, it is one‘s right and this change has been brought by increasing the vibrancy of Lok Adalat, in conformity with vision of NALSA.
The world has faced a huge crisis during the pandemic and consequently
there has been a huge backlog & pendency of cases in the courts. To reduce this pendency, ice-breaking sessions were conducted in the State Legal Services Authorities to conduct Lok Adalat across the nation.
In the 2nd National Lok Adalat a total of 95,78,209 cases were settled with
a total settlement amount of ₹ 9,422 Crores. It is heartening to note that the
three Lok Adalat conducted this year have surpassed the last year’s record
as till now the figures of record disposable cases have already touched more
than 2.2 crore.
This time, the National Lok Adalat witnessed a transition from the
conventional method as two states namely; Maharashtra and Rajasthan used
technological platforms to conduct the Lok Adalat. With this major
initiative, Digital Lok Adalat has come to reality and another objective of
NALSA to implement a cost effective and time saving mechanism of
dispute resolution for the affected parties is successfully achieved.