New Delhi, Sep 12 Courts and tribunals across the country turned into venues for dialogue and settlement rather than contest on Saturday as the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) organised its third National Lok Adalat of the year, disposing of over 2.10 crore cases through mutual agreement between parties.
Lok Adalat benches were set up in 26 states and seven Union Territories, involving judicial officers, advocates, para legal volunteers and litigants at levels ranging from the high courts to the taluka courts, according to a NALSA statement.
According to provisional figures compiled till 7 pm on Saturday, excluding Karnataka, Rajasthan and Delhi and pending data from some other jurisdictions, 2,10,39,112 cases were settled.
Of these, 1,90,75,743 were pre-litigation matters brought directly before the Lok Adalat, while 19,63,369 were cases already pending in courts, the statement said. The settlements together carried a cumulative value of Rs 13,589.28 crore.
The exercise is slated for September 19, October 10 and October 25 in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Delhi respectively.
Chief Justice of India and NALSA Patron-in-Chief Justice Surya Kant, in a message ahead of the Lok Adalat, said access to justice must be treated as a lived reality reaching every citizen, and urged people to use the platform as a quicker, simpler route to resolve disputes.
Justice Vikram Nath, Executive Chairman, NALSA, said the mechanism helps cut down pendency in courts while allowing parties to reach outcomes acceptable to both sides, sparing them the costs and delays of prolonged litigation.
The disputes taken up spanned cheque bounce cases, motor accident claims, matrimonial disputes, labour disputes, consumer complaints, land acquisition matters, succession disputes, small business arbitration claims, compoundable criminal cases and traffic challans.
Bank recovery cases, service matters, revenue disputes and public utility grievances also figured, along with long-pending cases flagged through the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) for priority resolution.
Officials said every Lok Adalat award has the force of a decree, is final and cannot be appealed, and comes with a refund of the court fee already paid by the litigant.
