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STRUCTURE AND JURISDICTION	The organisational structure, jurisdiction and nomenclature of the	subordinate judiciary are laid down by the states. Hence, they differ
slightly from state to state. Broadly speaking, there are three tiers of	civil and criminal courts below the High Court. This is shown as	follows:
The district judge is the highest judicial authority in the district. He	possesses original and appellate jurisdiction in both civil as well as	criminal matters. In other words, the district judge is also the sessions
judge. When he deals with civil cases, he is known as the district	judge and when he hears the criminal cases, he is called as the	sessions judge. The district judge exercises both judicial and
administrative powers. He also has supervisory powers over all the	subordinate courts in the district. Appeals against his orders and	judgements lie to the High Court. The sessions judge has the power to
impose any sentence including life imprisonment and capital	punishment (death sentence). However, a capital punishment passed	by him is subject to confirmation by the High Court, whether there is
an appeal or not.	Below the District and Sessions Court stands the Court of	Subordinate Judge on the civil side and the Court of Chief Judicial
Magistrate on the criminal side. The subordinate judge exercises	unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction over civil suits3. The chief judicial	magistrate decides criminal cases which are punishable with
imprisonment for a term up to seven years.	At the lowest level, on the civil side, is the Court of Munsiff and on	the criminal side, is the Court of Judicial Magistrate. The munsiff
pecuniary stake4. The judicial magistrate tries criminal cases which	are punishable with imprisonment for a term up to three years.	In some metropolitan cities, there are city civil courts (chief judges)
on the civil side and the courts of metropolitan magistrates on the	criminal side.	Some of the States and Presidency towns have established small
causes courts5. These courts decide the civil cases of small value in a	summary manner. Their decisions are final, but the High Court	possesses a power of revision.
In some states, Panchayat Courts try petty civil and criminal cases.	They are variously known as Nyaya Panchayat, Gram Kutchery,	Adalati Panchayat, Panchayat Adalat and so on.
Table 36.1 Articles Related to Subordinate Courts at a Glance	Article No. Subject Matter	233. Appointment of district judges
233A. Validation of appointments of, and judgements,	etc., delivered by certain district judges	234. Recruitment of persons other than district judges
to the judicial service	235. Control over subordinate courts	236. Interpretation
NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY6	Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the	poor and weaker sections of the society and ensures justice for all.
Articles 14 and 22(1) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the	State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which	promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity to all. In the year
1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the	Parliament which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish	a nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal
services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal	opportunity. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been	constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor
and evaluate implementation of legal aid programmes and to lay down	policies and principles for making legal services available under the	Act.
In every State, a State Legal Services Authority and in every High	Court, a High Court Legal Services Committee have been constituted.	The District Legal Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services
Committees have been constituted in the Districts and most of the	Taluks to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to	provide free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in
the State.	The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has been	constituted to administer and implement the legal services programme
insofar as it relates to the Supreme Court of India.	The NALSA lays down policies, principles, guidelines and frames	effective and economical schemes for the State Legal Services
Authorities to implement the Legal Services Programmes throughout	the country.	Primarily, the State Legal Services Authorities, District Legal
Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services Committees, etc. have	been asked to discharge the following main functions on regular basis:	1. To provide free and competent legal services to the eligible
persons.	2. To organise Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.	3. To organise legal awareness camps in the rural areas.
(a) Payment of court fee, process fees and all other charges payable	or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings.	(b) Providing service of lawyers in legal proceedings.
(c) Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other	documents in legal proceedings.	(d) Preparation of appeal, paper book including printing and
translation of documents in legal proceedings.	The persons eligible for getting free legal services include:	(i) Women and children
(ii) Members of SC/ST	(iii) Industrial workmen	(iv) Victims of mass disaster, violence, f lood, drought, earthquak
industrial disaster	(v) Disabled persons	(vi) Persons in custody
(vii) Persons whose annual income does not exceed ₹1 lakh (in t	Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit	₹1,25,000/-)
LOK ADALATS	The Lok Adalat is a forum where the cases (or disputes) which are	pending in a court or which are at pre-litigation stage (not yet brought
before a court) are compromised or settled in an amicable manner.	Meaning	The Supreme Court has explained the meaning of the institution of
Lok Adalat in the following way7 :	The ‘Lok Adalat’ is an old form of adjudicating system prevailed in	ancient India and it’s validity has not been taken away even in the
modern days too. The word ‘Lok Adalat’ means ‘People’s Court’. This	system is based on Gandhian principles. It is one of the components	of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) system. As the Indian courts
are overburdened with the backlog of cases and the regular courts are	to decide the cases involving a lengthy, expensive and tedious	procedure. The court takes years together to settle even petty cases.
The Lok Adalat, therefore, provides alternative resolution or devise for	expeditious and inexpensive justice.	In Lok Adalat proceedings, there are no victors and vanquished
and, thus, no rancour.	The experiment of ‘Lok Adalat’ as an alternate mode of dispute	settlement has come to be accepted in India, as a viable, economic,
efficient and informal one.	The Lok Adalat is another alternative in judicial justice. This is a	recent strategy for delivering informal, cheap and expeditious justice
to the common man by way of settling disputes, which are pending in	courts and also those, which have not yet reached courts by	negotiation, conciliation and by adopting persuasive, common sense
and human approach to the problems of the disputants, with the	assistance of specially trained and experienced members of a team of	conciliators.
Statutory Status	The first Lok Adalat camp in the postindependence era was organised	in Gujarat in 1982. This initiative proved very successful in the
institution was functioning as a voluntary and conciliatory agency	without any statutory backing for its decisions. In view of its growing	popularity, there arose a demand for providing a statutory backing to
this institution and the awards given by Lok Adalats. Hence, the	institution of Lok Adalat has been given statutory status under the	Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
The Act makes the following provisions relating to the organisation	and functioning of the Lok Adalats:	1. The State Legal Services Authority or the District Legal Services
Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the	High Court Legal Services Committee or the Taluk Legal	Services Committee may organise Lok Adalats at such intervals
and places and for exercising such jurisdiction and for such	areas as it thinks fit.	2. Every Lok Adalat organised for an area shall consist of such
number of serving or retired judicial officers and other persons of	the area as may be specified by the agency organizing such Lok	Adalat. Generally, a Lok Adalat consists of a judicial officer as
the chairman and a lawyer (advocate) and a social worker as	members.	3. A Lok Adalat shall have jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at
a compromise or settlement between the parties to a dispute in	respect of:	(i) any case pending before any court; or
(ii) any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of any court an	not brought before such court.	Thus, the Lok Adalat can deal with not only the cases pending
before a court but also with the disputes at pre-litigation stage.	The various matters such as Matri-monial/Family Disputes,	Criminal (Compoundable Offences) cases, Land Acquisition
cases, Labour disputes, Workmen’s compensation cases, Bank	Recovery cases, Pension cases, Housing Board and Slum	Clearance cases, Housing Finance cases, Consumer Grievance
cases, Electricity matters, Disputes relating to Telephone Bills,	Municipal matters including House Tax cases, Disputes with	Cellular Companies etc. are being taken up in the Lok Adalats.7a
But, the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any	case or matter relating to an offence not compoundable under	any law. In other words, the offences which are non-
compoundable under any law fall outside the purview of the Lok	Adalat.	4. Any case pending before the court can be referred to the Lok
Adalat for settlement if:	(i) the parties thereof agree to settle the dispute in the Lok Adalat	(ii) one of the parties thereof makes an application to the court
referring the case to the Lok Adalat; or	(iii) the court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to	taken cognizance of by the Lok Adalat.
In the case of a pre-litigation dispute, the matter can be	referred to the Lok Adalat for settlement by the agency	organizing the Lok Adalat, on receipt of an application from any
one of the parties to the dispute.	5. The Lok Adalat shall have the same powers as are vested in a	Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure (1908), while trying
a suit in respect of the following matters:	(a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness	examining him on oath;
(b) the discovery and production of any document;	(c) the reception of evidence on affidavits;	(d) the requisitioning of any public record or document from any
court or office; and	(e) such other matters as may be prescribed.	Further, a Lok Adalat shall have the requisite powers to
specify its own procedure for the determination of any dispute	coming before it. Also, all proceedings before a Lok Adalat shall	be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of the
Indian Penal Code (1860) and every Lok Adalat shall be deemed	to be a Civil Court for the purpose of the Code of Criminal	Procedure (1973).
6. An award of a Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a decree of a	Civil Court or an order of any other court. Every award made by	a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to the
dispute. No appeal shall lie to any court against the award of the	Lok Adalat.	Benefits
1. There is no court fee and if court fee is already paid the amount	will be refunded if the dispute is settled at Lok Adalat.	2. The basic features of Lok Adalat are the procedural f lexibility
and speedy trial of the disputes. There is no strict application of	procedural laws like the Civil Procedure Code and the Evidence	Act while assessing the claim by Lok Adalat.
3. The parties to the dispute can directly interact with the judge	through their counsel which is not possible in regular courts of	law.
4. The award by the Lok Adalat is binding on the parties and it has	the status of a decree of a civil court and it is non-appealable,	which does not cause the delay in the settlement of disputes
finally.	In view of above facilities provided by the Act, Lok Adalats are boon	to the litigating public as they can get their disputes settled fast and
free of cost amicably.	The Law Commission of India summarized the advantages of ADR	(Alternative Dispute Resolution) in the following way9 :
1. It is less expensive.	2. It is less time-consuming.	3. It is free from technicalities vis-a-vis conducting of cases in law
courts.	4. Parties are free to discuss their differences of opinion without	any fear of disclosure before any law courts.
5. Parties have the feeling that there is no losing or winning side	between them but at the same time their grievance is redressed	and their relationship is restored.
PERMANENT LOK ADALATS	The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was amended in 2002 to	provide for the establishment of the Permanent Lok Adalats to deal
with cases pertaining to the public utility services.	Reasons	The reasons for the establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats are as
follows:	1. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was enacted to	constitute legal services authorities for providing free and
competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to	ensure that opportunities for securing justice were not denied to	any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities and to
organise Lok Adalats to ensure that the operation of the legal	system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.	2. The system of Lok Adalat, which is an innovative mechanism for
alternate dispute resolution, has proved effective for resolving	disputes in a spirit of conciliation outside the courts.	3. However, the major drawback in the existing scheme of
organization of the Lok Adalats under the said Act is that the	system of Lok Adalats is mainly based on compromise or	settlement between the parties. If the parties do not arrive at any
compromise or settlement, the case is either returned to the	court of law or the parties are advised to seek remedy in a court	of law. This causes unnecessary delay in the dispensation of
justice. If Lok Adalats are given power to decide the cases on	merits in case parties fails to arrive at any compromise or	settlement, this problem can be tackled to a great extent.
4. Further, the cases which arise in relation to public utility services	such as Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Delhi Vidyut	Board, etc., need to be settled urgently so that people get justice
without delay even at pre-litigation stage and thus most of the	petty cases which ought not to go in the regular courts would be	settled at the pre-litigation stage itself which would result in
reducing the workload of the regular courts to a great extent.	5. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Legal Services	Authorities Act, 1987 to set up Permanent Lok Adalats for
providing compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for conciliation	and settlement of cases relating to public utility services.	Features
The salient features of the new institution of Permanent Lok Adalats	are as follows:	1. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall consist of a Chairman who is or
has been a district judge or additional district judge or has held	judicial office higher in rank than that of the district judge and two	other persons having adequate experience in public utility
services.	2. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall exercise jurisdiction in respect	of one or more public utility services such as transport services
of passengers or goods by air, road and water; postal, telegraph	or telephone services; supply of power, light or water to the	public by any establishment; public conservancy or sanitation;
services in hospitals or dispensaries; and insurance services.	3. The pecuniary jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be	up to rupees ten lakhs. However, the Central Government may
increase the said pecuniary jurisdiction from time to time.	4. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall have not jurisdiction in respect	of any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any
law.	5. Before the dispute is brought before any court, any party to the	dispute may make an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat
for settlement of the dispute. After an application is made to the	Permanent Lok Adalat, no party to that application shall invoke	jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute.

STRUCTURE AND JURISDICTION

The organisational structure, jurisdiction and nomenclature of the

subordinate judiciary are laid down by the states. Hence, they differ

slightly from state to state. Broadly speaking, there are three tiers of

civil and criminal courts below the High Court. This is shown as

follows:

The district judge is the highest judicial authority in the district. He

possesses original and appellate jurisdiction in both civil as well as

criminal matters. In other words, the district judge is also the sessions

judge. When he deals with civil cases, he is known as the district

judge and when he hears the criminal cases, he is called as the

sessions judge. The district judge exercises both judicial and

administrative powers. He also has supervisory powers over all the

subordinate courts in the district. Appeals against his orders and

judgements lie to the High Court. The sessions judge has the power to

impose any sentence including life imprisonment and capital

punishment (death sentence). However, a capital punishment passed

by him is subject to confirmation by the High Court, whether there is

an appeal or not.

Below the District and Sessions Court stands the Court of

Subordinate Judge on the civil side and the Court of Chief Judicial

Magistrate on the criminal side. The subordinate judge exercises

unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction over civil suits3. The chief judicial

magistrate decides criminal cases which are punishable with

imprisonment for a term up to seven years.

At the lowest level, on the civil side, is the Court of Munsiff and on

the criminal side, is the Court of Judicial Magistrate. The munsiff

pecuniary stake4. The judicial magistrate tries criminal cases which

are punishable with imprisonment for a term up to three years.

In some metropolitan cities, there are city civil courts (chief judges)

on the civil side and the courts of metropolitan magistrates on the

criminal side.

Some of the States and Presidency towns have established small

causes courts5. These courts decide the civil cases of small value in a

summary manner. Their decisions are final, but the High Court

possesses a power of revision.

In some states, Panchayat Courts try petty civil and criminal cases.

They are variously known as Nyaya Panchayat, Gram Kutchery,

Adalati Panchayat, Panchayat Adalat and so on.

Table 36.1 Articles Related to Subordinate Courts at a Glance

Article No. Subject Matter

233. Appointment of district judges

233A. Validation of appointments of, and judgements,

etc., delivered by certain district judges

234. Recruitment of persons other than district judges

to the judicial service

235. Control over subordinate courts

236. Interpretation

NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY6

Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the

poor and weaker sections of the society and ensures justice for all.

Articles 14 and 22(1) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the

State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which

promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity to all. In the year

1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the

Parliament which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish

a nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal

services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal

opportunity. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been

constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor

and evaluate implementation of legal aid programmes and to lay down

policies and principles for making legal services available under the

Act.

In every State, a State Legal Services Authority and in every High

Court, a High Court Legal Services Committee have been constituted.

The District Legal Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services

Committees have been constituted in the Districts and most of the

Taluks to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to

provide free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in

the State.

The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has been

constituted to administer and implement the legal services programme

insofar as it relates to the Supreme Court of India.

The NALSA lays down policies, principles, guidelines and frames

effective and economical schemes for the State Legal Services

Authorities to implement the Legal Services Programmes throughout

the country.

Primarily, the State Legal Services Authorities, District Legal

Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services Committees, etc. have

been asked to discharge the following main functions on regular basis:

1. To provide free and competent legal services to the eligible

persons.

2. To organise Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.

3. To organise legal awareness camps in the rural areas.

(a) Payment of court fee, process fees and all other charges payable

or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings.

(b) Providing service of lawyers in legal proceedings.

(c) Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other

documents in legal proceedings.

(d) Preparation of appeal, paper book including printing and

translation of documents in legal proceedings.

The persons eligible for getting free legal services include:

(i) Women and children

(ii) Members of SC/ST

(iii) Industrial workmen

(iv) Victims of mass disaster, violence, f lood, drought, earthquak

industrial disaster

(v) Disabled persons

(vi) Persons in custody

(vii) Persons whose annual income does not exceed ₹1 lakh (in t

Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit

₹1,25,000/-)

LOK ADALATS

The Lok Adalat is a forum where the cases (or disputes) which are

pending in a court or which are at pre-litigation stage (not yet brought

before a court) are compromised or settled in an amicable manner.

Meaning

The Supreme Court has explained the meaning of the institution of

Lok Adalat in the following way7 :

The ‘Lok Adalat’ is an old form of adjudicating system prevailed in

ancient India and it’s validity has not been taken away even in the

modern days too. The word ‘Lok Adalat’ means ‘People’s Court’. This

system is based on Gandhian principles. It is one of the components

of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) system. As the Indian courts

are overburdened with the backlog of cases and the regular courts are

to decide the cases involving a lengthy, expensive and tedious

procedure. The court takes years together to settle even petty cases.

The Lok Adalat, therefore, provides alternative resolution or devise for

expeditious and inexpensive justice.

In Lok Adalat proceedings, there are no victors and vanquished

and, thus, no rancour.

The experiment of ‘Lok Adalat’ as an alternate mode of dispute

settlement has come to be accepted in India, as a viable, economic,

efficient and informal one.

The Lok Adalat is another alternative in judicial justice. This is a

recent strategy for delivering informal, cheap and expeditious justice

to the common man by way of settling disputes, which are pending in

courts and also those, which have not yet reached courts by

negotiation, conciliation and by adopting persuasive, common sense

and human approach to the problems of the disputants, with the

assistance of specially trained and experienced members of a team of

conciliators.

Statutory Status

The first Lok Adalat camp in the postindependence era was organised

in Gujarat in 1982. This initiative proved very successful in the

institution was functioning as a voluntary and conciliatory agency

without any statutory backing for its decisions. In view of its growing

popularity, there arose a demand for providing a statutory backing to

this institution and the awards given by Lok Adalats. Hence, the

institution of Lok Adalat has been given statutory status under the

Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

The Act makes the following provisions relating to the organisation

and functioning of the Lok Adalats:

1. The State Legal Services Authority or the District Legal Services

Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the

High Court Legal Services Committee or the Taluk Legal

Services Committee may organise Lok Adalats at such intervals

and places and for exercising such jurisdiction and for such

areas as it thinks fit.

2. Every Lok Adalat organised for an area shall consist of such

number of serving or retired judicial officers and other persons of

the area as may be specified by the agency organizing such Lok

Adalat. Generally, a Lok Adalat consists of a judicial officer as

the chairman and a lawyer (advocate) and a social worker as

members.

3. A Lok Adalat shall have jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at

a compromise or settlement between the parties to a dispute in

respect of:

(i) any case pending before any court; or

(ii) any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of any court an

not brought before such court.

Thus, the Lok Adalat can deal with not only the cases pending

before a court but also with the disputes at pre-litigation stage.

The various matters such as Matri-monial/Family Disputes,

Criminal (Compoundable Offences) cases, Land Acquisition

cases, Labour disputes, Workmen’s compensation cases, Bank

Recovery cases, Pension cases, Housing Board and Slum

Clearance cases, Housing Finance cases, Consumer Grievance

cases, Electricity matters, Disputes relating to Telephone Bills,

Municipal matters including House Tax cases, Disputes with

Cellular Companies etc. are being taken up in the Lok Adalats.7a

But, the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any

case or matter relating to an offence not compoundable under

any law. In other words, the offences which are non-

compoundable under any law fall outside the purview of the Lok

Adalat.

4. Any case pending before the court can be referred to the Lok

Adalat for settlement if:

(i) the parties thereof agree to settle the dispute in the Lok Adalat

(ii) one of the parties thereof makes an application to the court

referring the case to the Lok Adalat; or

(iii) the court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to

taken cognizance of by the Lok Adalat.

In the case of a pre-litigation dispute, the matter can be

referred to the Lok Adalat for settlement by the agency

organizing the Lok Adalat, on receipt of an application from any

one of the parties to the dispute.

5. The Lok Adalat shall have the same powers as are vested in a

Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure (1908), while trying

a suit in respect of the following matters:

(a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness

examining him on oath;

(b) the discovery and production of any document;

(c) the reception of evidence on affidavits;

(d) the requisitioning of any public record or document from any

court or office; and

(e) such other matters as may be prescribed.

Further, a Lok Adalat shall have the requisite powers to

specify its own procedure for the determination of any dispute

coming before it. Also, all proceedings before a Lok Adalat shall

be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of the

Indian Penal Code (1860) and every Lok Adalat shall be deemed

to be a Civil Court for the purpose of the Code of Criminal

Procedure (1973).

6. An award of a Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a decree of a

Civil Court or an order of any other court. Every award made by

a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to the

dispute. No appeal shall lie to any court against the award of the

Lok Adalat.

Benefits

1. There is no court fee and if court fee is already paid the amount

will be refunded if the dispute is settled at Lok Adalat.

2. The basic features of Lok Adalat are the procedural f lexibility

and speedy trial of the disputes. There is no strict application of

procedural laws like the Civil Procedure Code and the Evidence

Act while assessing the claim by Lok Adalat.

3. The parties to the dispute can directly interact with the judge

through their counsel which is not possible in regular courts of

law.

4. The award by the Lok Adalat is binding on the parties and it has

the status of a decree of a civil court and it is non-appealable,

which does not cause the delay in the settlement of disputes

finally.

In view of above facilities provided by the Act, Lok Adalats are boon

to the litigating public as they can get their disputes settled fast and

free of cost amicably.

The Law Commission of India summarized the advantages of ADR

(Alternative Dispute Resolution) in the following way9 :

1. It is less expensive.

2. It is less time-consuming.

3. It is free from technicalities vis-a-vis conducting of cases in law

courts.

4. Parties are free to discuss their differences of opinion without

any fear of disclosure before any law courts.

5. Parties have the feeling that there is no losing or winning side

between them but at the same time their grievance is redressed

and their relationship is restored.

PERMANENT LOK ADALATS

The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was amended in 2002 to

provide for the establishment of the Permanent Lok Adalats to deal

with cases pertaining to the public utility services.

Reasons

The reasons for the establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats are as

follows:

1. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was enacted to

constitute legal services authorities for providing free and

competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to

ensure that opportunities for securing justice were not denied to

any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities and to

organise Lok Adalats to ensure that the operation of the legal

system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.

2. The system of Lok Adalat, which is an innovative mechanism for

alternate dispute resolution, has proved effective for resolving

disputes in a spirit of conciliation outside the courts.

3. However, the major drawback in the existing scheme of

organization of the Lok Adalats under the said Act is that the

system of Lok Adalats is mainly based on compromise or

settlement between the parties. If the parties do not arrive at any

compromise or settlement, the case is either returned to the

court of law or the parties are advised to seek remedy in a court

of law. This causes unnecessary delay in the dispensation of

justice. If Lok Adalats are given power to decide the cases on

merits in case parties fails to arrive at any compromise or

settlement, this problem can be tackled to a great extent.

4. Further, the cases which arise in relation to public utility services

such as Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Delhi Vidyut

Board, etc., need to be settled urgently so that people get justice

without delay even at pre-litigation stage and thus most of the

petty cases which ought not to go in the regular courts would be

settled at the pre-litigation stage itself which would result in

reducing the workload of the regular courts to a great extent.

5. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Legal Services

Authorities Act, 1987 to set up Permanent Lok Adalats for

providing compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for conciliation

and settlement of cases relating to public utility services.

Features

The salient features of the new institution of Permanent Lok Adalats

are as follows:

1. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall consist of a Chairman who is or

has been a district judge or additional district judge or has held

judicial office higher in rank than that of the district judge and two

other persons having adequate experience in public utility

services.

2. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall exercise jurisdiction in respect

of one or more public utility services such as transport services

of passengers or goods by air, road and water; postal, telegraph

or telephone services; supply of power, light or water to the

public by any establishment; public conservancy or sanitation;

services in hospitals or dispensaries; and insurance services.

3. The pecuniary jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be

up to rupees ten lakhs. However, the Central Government may

increase the said pecuniary jurisdiction from time to time.

4. The Permanent Lok Adalat shall have not jurisdiction in respect

of any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any

law.

5. Before the dispute is brought before any court, any party to the

dispute may make an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat

for settlement of the dispute. After an application is made to the

Permanent Lok Adalat, no party to that application shall invoke

jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute.