Lok Adalat

LOK ADALAT

Lok Adalat (People's Court) is one of the Alternative dispute resolution mechanism in India, it is a forum where cases pending on panchayat or at pre litigation stage in a court of law are settled. They have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Under this Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a case 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), they are free to initiate litigation by approaching the court of appropriate jurisdiction.

• The first Lok Adalat was held in Gujarat in 1982.
• First time held in Chennai in 1986.
• Accepts cases pending in regular court under their jurisdiction.
• The Lok Adalat are presided over by Members of Lok Adalat; 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 settlement
• Main condition of the Lok Adalat is that both parties in dispute should agree for settlement.
• There is no court fee and 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 procedural laws and the Evidence Act are not strictly followed while assessing the merits of the claim by the Lok Adalat.
• The decision of the Lok Adalat is binding on the parties to the dispute and its order is capable of execution through legal process.

Lok Adalat is very effective in settlement of money claims. Disputes like partition suits, damages and matrimonial cases can also be easily settled before Lok Adalat, as the scope for compromise through an approach of give and take is high in these cases. A Lok Adalat can take up civil cases (including marriage, and family disputes) and compoundable criminal cases .First time lok adalat was held in Gujrat in 1999.

Section 22 B of The Legal Aervices Authorities Act 1987 provides for the establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats (PLA) for exercising jurisdiction in respect of one or more public utility services (PUS). Section 22 A of The Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 states as to what constitutes 'Public Utility Services' for the purpose of Permanent Lok Adalat.

PERMANENT LOK ADALAT(PUS)

1) Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS) has been set up under section 22 B of the Legal Services Authorities Act,1987

2)The Permanent Lok Adalat comprises of a: -

-Chairperson(who is a serving or a retired District and Sessions Judge or a Judicial Officer higher in the rank)disposing the judicial work

-Two other persons (or members, performing Judicial duties

) disposing the judicial wo and dispensing Justicerk

3)The PLA(PUS) is not bound by the Civil Procedure code,1908 and the Indian Evidence Act,1872. It has wide powers to devise its own procedures

4)The decisions of the Permanent Lok Adalat are binding and are not subject to any appeal

5)The Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS) is a civil court for the purpose of summoning a person or document among other things.

6)The pecuniary jurisdiction of PLA(PUS) is 1 crore rupees while in cases which have no direct monetary connection, the PLA(PUS) can pass any order within the wider ambit of the Statutory and Constitutional mandate

7)The court of Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS) have been set up country wide like in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh etc

8) Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of functional Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS). It has more than 50 Courts of PLA(PUS) in as many district. Those being:-

Allahabad, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Baghpat, Meerut, Aligarh, Moradabad etc

See also

• Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008
• Legal Services Authorities Act 1987