M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 10: The District Legal Services Authority of Palamu has geared up for the National Lok Adalat to be held on May 14. This will be the second National Lok Adalat in this ongoing year.
Secretary of the Palamu DLSA Arpit Shrivastava said, “Our team is right on the job and work on issuing of notices to the parties to come and get their issues settled is in full swing.”
Sources said over 4,500 notices have been served so far for the National Lok Adalat.
According to sources, the electricity department draws more cases for resolution in the Lok Adalat among the public utility services sector. Cases of dishonouring of bank cheques are on the upper side.
“Motor accident claims get settled in the Lok Adalat and the quantum of relief that it brings with it for the aggrieved family which loses its member under the wheels on the roads can’t be fathomed by any casual person,” said a lawyer.
Arpit Shrivastava said, “We understand we will be having some lesser number of the benches formed in this second National Lok Adalat of this year. However, no effect will be there on the yield of the National Lok Adalat.”
Lok Adalat is one of the components of alternative dispute resolution.
Gujarat state is credited to be the first-ever state in India which gave birth to the concept of the Lok Adalat and held it in the year 1982. It had no statutory backup at that time but hit the national judiciary with a great impact. In 1987, National Legal Services Authorities Act came into effect and Lok Adalat became a statutory body.
There will be two more National Lok Adalat, one each in August and November this year.
Lok Adalat in the left-wing extremist hit Palamu holds major value as here the Naxal outfits like the then MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) and the CPI-ML Party Unity used to hold ‘Jan Adalats’ in some remote and cut off areas. They used to dispense justice in a manner reminiscent of the medieval times in these Jan adalats.
However, with the emergence of the Lok Adalat, these crude vessels of justice called Jan adalats of the Naxals started losing their teeth, said police sources.
In the first National Lok Adalat held in March 2022 in Daltonganj, the principal district and sessions judge Palamu PK Choubey had made a passionate appeal to people to avail themselves of the services of the Lok Adalat.
Choubey had counted the benefits of the Lok Adalat saying it is inexpensive, people-friendly and helps create an atmosphere of harmony, understanding and compromise. There is no victor or vanquished in the settlement of the issues by the Lok Adalat. As a result, both the parties remain satisfied and never grovel in any agony of playing second fiddle to the other.
The judge had reminded the gathering then how Lok Adalats helped reduce the spiralling number of cases. He had assured the gathering then that no appeal shall lie to any court against the award of the Lok Adalat thereby meaning that every award made by the Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to the dispute or disputes.
“The settlement or compromise or resolution reached in the Lok Adalat is non-appealable and holds the power and authority of decree of the court,” said the lawyers.
Sources said the National Judicial Data Grid has found an alarming number of cases running into nearly 4 crores pending in the various subordinate courts, district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court.
