National Lok Adalat held across UT’s of J&K and Ladakh

SRINAGAR : J&K Legal Services Authority and Ladakh Legal Services Authority today organized National Lok Adalat throughout the U.T’s of J&K and Ladakh.

In order to have maximum response and settlements between the parties in cases like MACT, matrimonial, cheque bounce cases under NI Act, Money recovery cases, etc, it was advised to organize pre-lok Adalat sittings or pre-counselling sessions (either video or tele-conferencing or physical session with social distancing) well before the date of National Lok Adalat so that parties may get one or more chances for entering into negotiation/dialogue with the opposite parties.

Also, webinars were organized to sensitize the officers of Legal Services Authorities/Committees, Panel Lawyers and PLVs about the importance of Lok Adalat as a mode for Alternate Dispute RResolution

Justice, High Court of J&K and Ladakh, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority inaugurated the National Lok Adalat at District Court Complex Srinagar.

After inaugurating the Lok Adalat, Justice Magrey inspected different benches of the National Lok Adalat in District Court Complex as well as in the Srinagar Wing of the High Court to have first-hand information about the cases being taken up and disposed off in the National Lok Adalat.

As per the information received from the districts, out of a total number of 89447cases taken up by 155 Benches in the day long National Lok Adalat at various courts across the UT of J&K, 72343 cases were disposed of and an amount of Rs. 71,43,58,269/- was awarded as compensation/settlement amount in civil, criminal, labour disputes, Electricity and Water Bills cases, Land Acquisition, Family matters, cheque dishonor and Bank Recovery cases.

Likewise in Ladakh, a total of 535 Cases were taken up by eight benches and 357 cases were disposed off and an amount of Rs. 1,21,63,989/- was awarded as compensation/settlement amount in civil, criminal, labour disputes, Electricity and Water Bills cases, Land Acquisition, Family matters, cheque dishonor and Bank Recovery cases.

As per the directions of NALSA, Law students were nominated at every district headquarter as well as High Court wings of Jammu and Srinagar to study the impact of the National Lok Adalat. These law students were trained in advance by the NALSA before the Lok Adalat. The proposal to conduct such survey was approved by Justice U.U.Lalit, Executive Chairman, NALSA on the scheme of Data and Evidence for Justice Reforms (DE JURE).

M.K.Sharma, Member Secretary, J&K and Ladakh Legal Services Authorities thanked all the participants including the Judicial Officers, Secretaries DLSA’s, Advocates, representatives of insurance companies & banks, staff of the courts & Legal Services Institutions & litigants for their pragmatic approach in settlement of cases in such a large number.