S.S.

JAIN SUBODH LAW COLLEGE

Lok Adalats

Submission To: Submitted By:

MS. BHAVYA GANGWAL ASHISH SHARMA

ASST. PROF. OF LAW Roll no: - 08

X Semester

S.S. Jain Subodh Law

College

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 CERTIFICATE

To whomsoever it may concern, This is to certify that, the dissertation titled “Lok

Adalats” submitted by Ashish Sharma in fulfillment for the award of the degree of
B.A.LL.B. at S.S. Jain Subodh Law College is the project of research carried out
under my guidance and supervision.

Ms. Bhavya gangwal

Asst. Prof. of Law
S.S. Jain Subodh Law College

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 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express our humble gratitude and personal regards to Ms.
Bhavya gangwal for inspiring me and guiding me during the course of this project
work and also for her cooperation and guidance from time to time during the course
of this project work on the topic “Lok Adalats”.

Date:
Place: Jaipur
Ashish Sharma

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Aims and Objectives:

The aim of the project is to present a detailed study of the topic Lok Adalats
forming a concrete informative capsule of the same with an insight into its relevance
in the Indian market.

Scope and Limitations:

In this project the researcher has tried to include different aspects pertaining to the
concept of Lok Adalats.

Data Collection:
The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-
 Websites
 Books

Method of Writing and Mode of Citation:

The method of writing followed in the course of this research project is
primarily analytical. The researcher has followed Uniform method of citation
throughout the course of this research project.

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Introduction

Lok-Adalats are the flagship of the Indian judiciary for dispensation of justice to the
poor. The concept of Lok Adalat (Peoples' Court) is an innovative Indian contribution
to the world jurisprudence. The institution of Lok Adalat in India, as the very name
suggests, means, People's Court. "Lok" stands for "people" and the term "Adalat"
means court. India has a long tradition and history of such methods being practiced
in the society at grassroots level The concept of Lok Adalat is an innovative
Indian. The introduction of Lok Adalats added a new chapter to the justicedispensati
on system of this country and succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to the
victims for satisfactory settlement of their disputes. This system is based on
Gandhian principles. It is one of the components of ADR systems. In ancient times
the disputes were used to be referred to “panchayat” which were established at
village level. Panchayat’s used to resolve the dispute through arbitration. It has
proved to be an effective alternative to traditional litigation which is expensive and
time consuming. This very concept of settlement of dispute through mediation,
negotiation or through arbitral process known as decision of "Nyaya-Panchayat" is
conceptualized and institutionalized in the philosophy of Lok Adalat. It involves
people who are directly or indirectly affected by dispute resolution.

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History of lok Adalat

The system of lok adalat has deep roots in Indian legal history and its close
allegiance to the culture and perception of justice in Indian ethos. However During
the British rule the lok adalat system started to lose its prominence but today It has,
once again, become very popular and familiar amongst litigants. Experience has
shown that it is one of the very efficient and important ADRs and most suited to the
Indian environment, culture and societal interests. The first Lok Adalats were started
in Gujrat in 1982 and today these courts have spread India.
The evolution of this movement was a part of the strategy to relieve heavy burden
on the Courts with pending cases and to give relief to the litigants who wherein a
queue to get justice. The first Lok Adalat was held on March 14, 1982 at Junagarh in
Gujarati. Maharashtra commenced the Lok Nyayalaya in 1984. Lok Adalats have
been very successful in settlement of motor accident claim cases, matrimonial/family
disputes, labour disputes, disputes relating to public services such as telephone,
electricity, bank recovery cases and soon. Some statistics may give us a feeling of
tremendous satisfaction and encouragement.

SCOPE, OBJECT AND NEED FOR LOK ADALAT

The advent of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 gave a statutory status to
Lok Adalats and is pursuance with the constitutional mandate in Article 39-A of the
Constitution of India, which contains various provisions for settlement of disputes
through Lok Adalat. It is an Act to constitute legal services authorities to provide free
and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic
or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the
legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.
Even before the enforcement of the Act, the concept of Lok Adalat has been getting
wide acceptance as People's Courts as the very name signifies. Settlement of
disputes at the hands of Panchayat Heads or tribal heads was in vogue since
ancient times. When statutory recognition had been given to Lok Adalat,it was
specifically provided that the award passed by the Lok Adalat formulating the terms
of compromise will have the force of decree of a court which can be executed as a

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civil court decree. The evolution of movement called Lok Adalat was a part of the
strategy to relieve heavy burden on the Courts with pending cases and to give relief
to the litigants who were in a queue to get justice. It contains various provisions for
settlement of disputes through Lok Adalat. It is an Act to constitute legal services
authorities to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the
society to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any
citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to
secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal
opportunity.

Lok Adalats are competent to deal with a number of cases like:·

 Civil,revenue and criminal cases

 Motor accident compesenation and claim cases
 Partions claims
 Damages cases
 Family disputes
 Land acquisition disputes
 Family court cases
 Cases which are non sub-judice

NEED FOR LOK ADALATS

Justice Ramaswamy said:
“Resolving disputes through Lok Adalat not only minimizes litigation expenditure, it
saves valuable time of the parties and their witnesses and also facilitates
inexpensive and prompt remedy appropriately to the satisfaction of both the parties”
Law Courts in India face mainly four problems:

 The number of courts and judges in all grades are alarmingly inadequate.

 Increase in flow of cases in recent years due to multifarious Acts enacted by

theCentral and State Governments.

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  The high cost involved in prosecuting or defending a case in a court of law,
dueto heavy court fee, lawyer's fee and incidental charges.

 Delay in disposal of cases resulting in huge pendency in all the courts

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;
or(ii) any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of, and is not brought before,
any court for which the Lok Adalat is organised. The Lok Adalat can compromise and
settle even criminal cases, which are compoundable under the relevant laws.

POWER OF LOK ADALAT

i) The Lok Adalat shall have the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908, while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters:-

a) Power to summon and enforce the attendance of any witness and to examine
him/her on oath.

b) Power to enforce the discovery and production of any document.

c) Power to receive evidence on affidavits,

d) Power for requisitioning of any public record or document or copy thereof

or from any court.

e) Such other matters as may be prescribed.

ii) Every Lok Adalat shall have the power to specify its own procedure for the
determination of any dispute coming before it.

iii) All proceedings before a Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings
within the meaning of Sections 193, 219 and 228 of IPC.

iv) Every Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purpose of Sec 195

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and Chapter XXVI of Cr.P.C.

PERMANENT LOK ADALAT

In 2002, Parliament brought about certain amendments to the Legal Services

Authorities Act, 1987. The said amendment introduced Chapter VI-A with the caption
PRE LITIGATION CONCILIATION AND SETTLEMENT. Section 22-B envisages
establishment of "PERMANENT LOK ADALATS (PLA)" at different places for
considering the cases in respect of Public Utility Services (PUS). The Central or
State Authorities may establish by notification, Permanent Lok Adalats at any
Permanent Lok Adalats, for determining issues in connection to Public Utility
Services.

Public Utility Services include:

(1) Transport service,
(2) Postal, telegraph or telephone services,
(3) Supply of power, light and water to public,
(4) System of public conservancy or sanitation,
(5) Insurance services and such other services as notified by the Central or State
Governments.

STRUCTURE OF PREMANENT LOK ADALAT

Chairman--
A person who is or has been a district Judge or Additional District Judge or has held
judicial office higher in rank than that of a District Judge, shall be the Chairman.
Members--
Two other persons having adequate experience in Public Utility Service to be
nominated by Central Government on the recommendation of Central Authority and
by the State Government on the recommendation of the State Authority.

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COGNIZANCE OF PENDING CASES BY LOK ADALAT

a. Any party to a dispute can apply to Permanent Lok Adalat for settlement of a
dispute in respect of a public utility service, which is not pending before any court.

b. Permanent Lok Adalat does not have jurisdiction to entertain disputes involving
offences which are not compoundable.

c. Permanent Lok Adalat does not have jurisdiction to entertain a matter where the
value of the property involved exceeds ten lakhs, which limit can be enhanced as
provided for.

d. Once, an application is preferred to PERMANENT LOK ADALAT for determination

of a dispute, no party to such application can invoke the
jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute.

ADVANTAGES OF LOK ADALAT

(i) Speedy Justice And Saving From The Lengthy Court Procedures: - Lok Adalats
ensure speedier justice because it can be conducted at suitable places, arranged
very fast, in local languages too, even for the illiterates.

The procedural laws and the Evidence Act are not strictly followed while assessing
the merits of the claim by the Lok Adalat. Hence,Lok Adalats are also known as
“People’s Festivals of Justice” The victims and the offender may be represented by
their advocate or they can interact with the Lok Adalat judge directly and explain their
stand in the dispute and the reasons thereof, which is not possible in a regular court
of law.

(ii) Justice At No Cost: - Lok Adalat is the only institutionalized mechanism of dispute
resolution in which the parties do not have to bear any expenses. There is no court
fee in Lok Adalat. If the case is already filed in the regular court, the fee paid is
refunded in the manner provided under the Court Fees Act if the dispute is settled at
the Lok Adalat. This kind of refund is an incentive given to parties to negotiate for

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settlement. Lok Adalat is a boon to the litigant public, where they can get their
disputes settled fast and free of cost.

(iii) Solving Problems Of Backlog Cases: - In a Lok Adalat, if a compromise is

reached, an award is made and is binding on the parties. It is enforced as a decree
of a civil court. An important aspect is that the award is final and cannot be appealed,
not even under Article 226 because it is a judgment by consent. All proceedings of a
Lok Adalat are deemed to be judicial proceedings and every Lok Adalat is deemed to
be a Civil Court. Section 25 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 provides that
the provisions of the act have an overriding effect notwithstanding anything which is
inconsistent with any other law.

(iv) Maintenance Of Cordial Relations: - The main thrust of Lok Adalats is on

compromise. When no compromise is reached, the matter goes back to the court.
While conducting the proceedings, a Lok Adalat acts as a conciliator and not as an
arbitrator. Its role is to persuade the parties to hit upon a solution and help in
reconciling the contesting differences. Lok Adalat cannot decide the issues nor can it
influence or force the parties to decide in a particular way. It encourages consensual
arrangements. It is not possible for Lok Adalat to decide upon any issue not
acceptable to any of the parties. In Lok Adalats, disputes are not only settled but also
the cordial relations between the parties are retained as disputes are resolved
amicably. Hence, it is a very healthy way of dispute resolution.

DRAWBACKS OF LOK ADALATS

Presently, Lok Adalat is considered to be one of the best Alternative Disputes

Resolution Systems. Just like every other system, Lok Adalat is also having several
virtues and it suffers from few ill as well. As it is rightly said that, “Justice delayed is a
Justice denied but Justice hurried is a Justice buried”. Keeping this fact in mind, the
higher judiciary in many of its judgments directed that, the speedy proceeding
conducted by way of Lok Adalat should not impair the right of any party. In this
respect, the judgment given in the case of Manju Gupta V National Insurance
Company is significant. The instant case demonstrates the sad state of compromises

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and settlements in Lok Adalats, denying the fair minimum claims to the petitioners. In
this case, Manju Gupta a three years old girl lost her legs in a Motor Accident. A
Claim Petition in this respect was filed for Rs. 2.21 Lakhs. But there was an
inordinate delay in its disposal, due to which the father of the claimant agreed to
settle the claim through Lok Adalat only for Rs. 30,000/- This issue has been
reported in the local newspapers. The High court of Allahabad had taken suo muto
note of the issue and required the record of the case to be presented before it.
Consequently, the High Court awarded Rs. 1, 10,000/- as compensation to the
claimant.

In this case the said High Court observed,“In the name of the speedy resolution of
disputes, the fair interests of the parties cannot be sacrificed, more importantly when
the petitioners involved are minors, insane and disabled.” While expressing its
lamented remark about the present Lok-Adalat system, the Kerela High Court poited
out the drawback as –

However, the major drawback in the existing scheme of organization of the Lok
Adalats under Chapter VI of 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 fail to arrive at any compromise or settlement, this
problem can be tackled to a great extent.However this defects has been removed in
permanent Lok-Adalat. It has also been observed that since the forum of Lok-adalat
are headed by the person from judiciary, they assume the role of Lok-adalat as
judicial forum and deviate from the basic objectives for which it has been formed.
The apex court had also lamented on this issue.

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CHALLENGES FACING LOK ADALATS

1. No doubt that, speedy justice is one of the important characteristics of Lok Adalat,
but such speed must be reasonable, so that such awards should not be passed,
which defeats the cause of justice.

2. To increase its utility, the concerned Legal services Authority or Committee should
disseminate information to the public about the holding of various Lok Adalats by it
and success achieved thereby in providing speedy, equitable and inexpensive
justice.

3. It is observed that, there is sufficient number of statutory provisions allowing

justice through Lok Adalat. The only need is to organize awareness camps at grass-
root level so that, the ignorant people living in far-flung areas of the State get
information about those provisions and reap the benefits of the same. The street
plays are the best means to convey the message to the illiterate people. Law
students can contribute in such activities effectively. Besides, the mass media like
newspapers, television, radios can also be desirable for this purpose.

4. The Lok Adalat Movement can be successful only if the people participate on
voluntary basis in the functioning of Lok Adalat. This can be achieved by restraining
themselves from invoking the jurisdiction of traditional Courts in trifle disputes.

5. It is also suggested that, there should be increased involvement of law students,

social workers at various stages of Lok Adalat proceedings. Their help can be taken
to impart knowledge to the litigants about general working of Lok Adalat, its purpose,
why their case is referred to Lok Adalat etc. so as to enable them to put their points
during Lok Adalat proceedings and get effective and equitable justice through Lok
Adalat.

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CONCLUSION

From above it exposes that, the institution of Lok Adalat revolves round the principle
of creating awareness amongst the disputants to the effect that, their welfare and
interest really lies in arriving at amicable, immediate, consensual and peaceful
settlement of disputes. It will go a long way in strengthening our diverse, democratic
values and rule of Law. The working of Lok Adalat seems to be both fruitful and
successful and has achieved those objectives, for which it has been meant. It is thus
can be said that, the institution of Lok Adalat has a better utility in the context of
Indian society and the problems relating thereto. The overall functioning and
achievement of Lok Adalat appears to be appreciable though not remarkable. Thus
Lok Adalat acts as a forum for speedy and equitable justice, where any of the
sections of the can approach to resolve his dispute in speedy and inexpensive
manner and to his own satisfaction. So there is a need strengthen the system of Lok
Adalat in recent context, which in turn, help to realize the Constitutional goals of
‘equal and social justice’ to its fullest extent. It will, in turn, helpful to regain to
reaffirm the public confidence in the judiciary.The large population of India and the
illiterate masses has found the regular dispensation of justice through regular courts
very cumbersome and ineffective. The Lok Adalat movement is no more an
experiment in India. It is now a success and needs to be replicated in matters which
have not yet been under the domain of Lok Adalat. May be some brainstorming on
the part of law makers, judge, lawyers and teachers would result in some
modification so that the same model can be used effectively in business disputes. At
present there is an urgent need to have an alternative dispute resolution for business
disputes which is as good as the model of Lok Adalat. Moreover there is a need to
use the technique used in Lok Adalat in conflicts related to public issues where the
number of players is quite large and in most of the matters the government is also
involved in one way or the other. Lok Adalats have to reinvent after almost six
months to meet the challenges faced by the judiciary. The new branches of law will
require newer tools to have decisions acceptable to the litigants. As new branches
emerge aspirations are very high. Only time will tell how far Lok Adalat movement
shall go in India and elsewhere in curbing conflicts and disputes and in spreading
harmony.

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