, today organised the second National Lok Adalat of 2021.){kind=link}
The Legal Services Authorities across the country, under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), today organised the second National Lok Adalat of 2021.
Under the able guidance of Justice U.U. Lalit, Executive Chairman of NALSA, the authority also organised Lok Adalats in 32 SLSAs/HCLSCs across the country today, in both virtual and hybrid mode.
It was for the first time that Justice Lalit himself monitored the working and functioning of Lok Adalats by way of virtual conferencing. In addition, Justice Lalit interacted with Presiding Officers of Lok Adalat Benches in the Districts Courts of Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab), Gurugram (Haryana), Panchkula (Haryana), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Noida (Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Thiruvellore (Tamil Nadu) and Kutch (Gujarat).
He further oversaw the working and functioning of Lok Adalat Benches at the High Court of Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati) and interacted with the Judges, who were presiding over the Lok Adalat at the High Court of Rajasthan (Jodhpur). The Supreme Court Judge 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.
Justice Lalit also interacted with the Presiding officers of Lok Adalat Benches on virtual mode.
Across the country, the latest data available till 1600 hrs indicated that 5,129 National Lok Adalat Benches were held today. Total 35,53,717 cases were taken up, out of which 22,50,473 were pre-litigation cases and 13,03,244 were pending cases.
Over 11,42,415 cases were disposed of in a single day on July 10, indicating a huge achievement and success for the Legal Services Authorities. It was on account of the keen participation by the stakeholders that the Legal Services Authorities have been able to achieve this huge disposal.
The Executive Chairman of NALSA stressed on conducting Pre-Lok Adalat sittings or pre-counselling sessions before the National Lok Adalat, so that the parties may get one or more chances for entering into dialogue with opposite parties to get maximum number of settlements.
To prepare for the same and maximise the outcome of the National Lok Adalat, a preparatory Webinar was organised by the NALSA. The ‘National Lok Adalat: Challenges and way forward’ aimed at the goal of sensitising all the Chairpersons and Secretaries of District Legal Services Authorities, in order to ensure smooth and proper functioning of the National Lok Adalat.
NALSA further directed the LSAs to observe COVID-19 protocol prevalent in the States/UTs, as per the guidelines issued by the Government of India, as well as the State Governments.
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The National Lok Adalat in Kerala was preponed and conducted on July 9, wherein a total of 39,361 cases were taken up (35,404 pending cases & 3,957 pre-litigation cases) out of which 26,118 cases were disposed of (25,150 pending cases & 968 pre-litigation cases). A settlement amount of Rs 86.81 crore was awarded.
The National Lok Adalat has been postponed in Maharashtra, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Karnataka and West Bengal for August 1, July 18, August 14 and July 24, respectively. The next National Lok Adalat will be held on September 11.