Under the guidance of National Legal Services Authority, Lok Adalat was held on February 11 (second Saturday) across the different State under the aegis and the stewardship of Hon’ble Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Judge, Supreme Court of India.
The Supreme Court judge and the Executive Chairman, NALSA, has organised the 1st National Lok Adalat of the year 2023 in all 36 States/UTs.
As per the information received through NALSA officials, close to 97.64 lakhs cases have been settled.
Out of the settled cases about 17.13 lakh were the pending cases whereas 80.50 lakh were pre-litigation cases. The approximate value of the total settlement amount in these cases is accounted to ₹7077.84 crore.
The data of settlement from far flung areas is still awaited, thus the final figure would take a little more time to be tabulated making the final settlement figures will rise.
The positive side of this settlement is not that it would ease the burden of the pending cases in Courts but, also that it will control the future litigation.
The matters that were taken during this Lok Adalat, involved compoundable offences, revenue cases and bank recovery cases.The other cases like motor accident claims, matrimonial disputes (except divorce cases), cheque bounce cases, labour disputes and other civil cases were taken up.
A huge number of matter were taken up as pre-litigation cases and settled pertaining to recovery matters related to financial institutions, banks, government bodies and private services.
The Executive Chairman of NALSA,Hon’ble Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Judge, Supreme Court of India took overview of the entire process and progress of Lok Adalat.
Lok Adalats have not only proved to be efficient and effective substitute for the redressal, but also have significantly helped in reducing the burden of the Courts swiftly and in a very cost efficient manner.
The Lok Adalats have efficiently and greatly supplemented and complimented the legal system of the country.The pursuit of justice with the Lok Adalats has become more accessible with the increasing vitality and conformity with vision of NALSA.
The Executive Chairman Hon’ble Justice Kaul have emphasised on the the need for quick and affordable access to justice to increase the institutional participation of the common man and gave necessary directions to NALSA for future course of upcoming National Lok Adalats.
The Lok Adalats are now scheduled to be conducted pan India on 13.05.2023, 09.09.2023 and 09.12.2023.