The second National Lok Adalat of the year saw over 11.42 lakh cases being disposed of by 5,129 benches across the country on Saturday, the National Legal Services Authorities (NALSA) said.
”Legal services authorities have converted the pandemic into an opportunity by successfully holding the National Lok Adalat,” said Justice U U Lalit who is also the Executive Chairman of NALSA.
The NALSA said in a statement that over 35.53 cases were taken up by 4 PM, out of which around 22.50 lakh were pre-litigation cases and around 13.03 lakh were pending cases. The release said that Justice Lalit himself monitored the functioning of Lok Adalats through virtual conferencing.
Justice Lalit and also interacted with the presiding officers of Lok Adalat benches in the various district courts across the country and further oversaw the working and functioning of Lok Adalat Benches at the High Court of Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati) and High Court of Rajasthan (Jodhpur), the release said.
“Justice Lalit inquired about the type of cases taken up, disposal rates and subject matter. He laid emphasis on the aspect that National Lok Adalats are imperative to reduce the huge pendency in the justice system of the country,” NALSA said.
The Legal Services Authorities (LSAs) across the country observed COVID-19 protocols issued by the government of India as well as state governments, it said.
It said that in order to ensure maximum settlement between parties in cases like motor accidents’ claims, matrimonial, cheque bounce cases, labour disputes and other civil cases, Justice Lalit had stressed upon “to conduct pre-Lok Adalat sittings or pre-counselling sessions well before the National Lok Adalat so that the parties may get one or more chances for entering into dialogue with opposition parties to get a maximum number of settlements.” The National Lok Adalat in Kerala was preponed to July 9, wherein a total of 39,361 cases were taken up, out of which 26,118 cases were disposed of, and a settlement amount of Rs 86.81 crore was awarded, the statement said. The National Lok Adalat has been postponed in Maharashtra, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Karnataka and West Bengal for August 1, July 18, 14 and 24 respectively.
”In order to ensure maximum settlement between the parties in cases like MACT, matrimonial, cheque bounce cases under NI Act, labour disputes, PUS, other civil cases, etc., it was stressed upon by Justice Lalit to conduct Pre-Lok Adalat sittings or pre-counselling sessions well before the National Lok Adalat so that the parties may get one or more chances for entering into dialogue with opposition parties to get a maximum number of settlements,” it said.
Now, the next National Lok Adalat of the year is scheduled to be held on September 11, NALSA said.
