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FIELD VISIT REPORT 2023

REPORT ON LOK ADALAT /PERMANENT LOK

ADALAT/MEDIATION CENTRE/ ARBITRATION CENTER

AT
[TIS HAZARI COURT, DELHI]
ON
19/03/2023

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

DR. ROHIT MOONKA ABHISHEK YADAV
SEC- D
CLASS ROLL NO- 201020
EX. ROLL NO.- 20309806030
 FIELD VISIT REPORT,2023

INTRODUCTION OF LOK ADALAT AS A CONCEPT

The term ‘Lok Adalat’ means ‘People’s Court’ and is based on Gandhian
principles.

Lok Adalat is system of alternative dispute resolution developed in India Lok

Adalat established by the legal services authority act1987 The legal services
authority act makes provisions powers and functions of Lok Adalat. The
preamble of the act makes it clear that it has been enacted to contribute the legal
service 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 dis abilities and to organise
Lok Adalat to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a
basis of equal opportunity . the Lok Adalat’s provide quick justice at less
expenses.

Organisation of Lok Adalat

Section 19 in The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987

[19. Organisation of Lok Adalats.—(1) Every State Authority or District

Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or every High Court
Legal Services Committee or, as the case may be, Taluk Legal Services
Committee may organize 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— (a)
serving or retired judicial officers; and (b) other persons,

of the area as may be specified by the State Authority or the District Authority or
the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the High Court Legal Services

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Committee, or as the case may be, the Taluk Legal Services Committee,
organising such Lok Adalat.

(3) The experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of
sub-section (2) for Lok Adalats organised by the Supreme Court Legal Services
Committee shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government in
consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

(4) The experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of
sub-section (2) for Lok Adalats other than referred to in sub-section (3) shall be
such as may be prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the Chief
Justice of the High Court.

Jurisdiction:

(5) 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:

Provided that the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any case or
matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any law.

Scope of Lok Adalat :

Lok Adalat is very effective in settlement of money claims. Disputes like partition
suits, damages and matrimonial cases can also be easily settled before Lok
Adalat, as the scope for compromise through an approach of give and take is high
in these cases.

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LEGAL REGULATION OR STATUS OF LOK ADALAT

Eminent judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts have many a time
emphasized the need for free legal aid to the poor. Legal Aid is a kind of human
right in the context of conflicts and contradictory interests. The Central
Government, taking note of the need for legal aid for the poor and the needy, had
introduced Article 39 (A) in the Constitution in February 1977.

Article 39 A of the Constitution of India provides for equal justice and free legal
aid. It is, therefore clear that the State has been ordained to secure a legal system,
which promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity. The language of
Article-39 A is understood in mandatory terms. This is made more than clear by
the use of the word “shall” in Art-39 A.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) along with other Legal

Services Institutions conducts Lok Adalats.
NALSA was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act,1987 which
came into force on 9 November 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network
for providing free and competent legal services to lower section of society.

The Lok Adalat shall have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court
under the Code of Civil Procedure (1908).

Further, a Lok Adalat shall have the requisite powers to specify its own
procedure for the determination of any dispute coming before it.

All proceedings before a Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be judicial

proceedings within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code (1860) and

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every Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purpose of the
Code of Criminal Procedure (1973).

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.

WHAT YOU OBSERVED ON LOK ADALAT DAY

I visited special Lok Adalat at Tis Hazari district court ,Delhi, on 19 march
,2023 and the observation made by me are as follows:

The purpose of visit was to understand the working of court, the nature of duties
of the judicial officer in the matter of LOK ADALAT. The visit helped us to
understand the actual functioning of LOK ADALAT and that how it is beneficial
to the people considering the advantages that came along also the disadvantages
the parties had to face due to certain errors on the part of the court.

As we visited in court no. 119 ,313 and they were very crowed but the Hon’ble
Judges, were handling all the cases very calmly. There are various issues which
raised during LOK ADALAT proceedings but one issue which raised its head
often is the finally of the award of the parties which agrees to abide by the
decision of the judge at the LOK ADALAT is the decision of the court itself
though arrived at the simpler method of conciliation instead of the process of
arguments.

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The most important factor to be considered while deciding the cases at LOK
ADALAT is the consent of both the parties. It cannot be forced on any party
that the matter has to be decided by the LOK ADALAT. However, once the
party agree that the matter must be decided by the LOK ADALAT, then the
party cannot walk away from the decision of the LOK ADALAT. At the end of
the day, we met one of the Judicial officer of the court , he make us understand
that how LOK ADALAT works and how it is helpful for people and what type
of cases can be hear in LOK ADALAT,it was very informative meeting with
him.

The cases were related to following subject matters as follows :

Motor Accident Claims , Land Acquisition , Family Disputes ( except divorce ),

IPR Matters , Money Recovery Matters etc.

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 like transport, postal, telegraph etc.

Section 22B of the legal services Authorities Act, 1987 creates institution of
Permanent Lok Adalat.

Composition of Permanent Lok Adalat

It is composed of:
1. Chairperson – who is a retired or sitting Sessions or District Judge or any
Judicial Officer having higher rank.
2. Two other individuals, execute functions that are judicial in nature.

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In the case of S.N Pandey v. Union of India , the Supreme Court of India held
that the individuals who are appointed to the Permanent Lok Adalats should
possess a high level of honesty, ethics and necessary experience. The court also
held that suitable rules and guidelines, among other things, in this regard, will
have to be formulated, if not already established.

OPINION ON LOK ADALAT AS A JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

1. There is no court fee and even if the case is already filed in the regular
court, the fee paid will be refunded if the dispute is settled at the Lok
Adalat.
2. The disputes can be brought before the Lok Adalat directly instead of
going to a regular court first and then to the Lok Adalat.
3. The decision of the Lok Adalat is binding on the parties to the dispute
and its order is capable of execution through legal process.
4. No appeal lies against the order of the Lok Adalat.
5. It is an informal system of justice dispensation which has largely
succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to litigants for
determination and settlement of disputes. Originating from Gandhian
principles by Mahatma Gandhi, it has become a major helping hand to
courts and is prescribed in Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure,
1908 as well.
6. It helps in solving problems of backlog of cases at higher level and also
maintain cordial relation between the party.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE LOK ADALAT

SYSTEM

A major drawback of the Lok Adalats is that 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 a remedy in a court of law. This causes unnecessary
delay in the dispensation of justice. So Legislation should try to find out some
efficient solution to this problem.

Another biggest disadvantage with Lok Adalats is that repeated sittings at short
intervals with the same judge are almost not possible which breaks the
continuity of the deliberations.

It cannot be said that the parties remain in absolute control of the proceedings in
contradistinction to what happens in mediation (Diminishing party autonomy).

The most important factor to be considered while deciding the cases at the Lok
Adalat is the consent of both the parties. It cannot be forced on any party that
the matter has to be decided by the Lok Adalat .

CONCLUSION:

The LOK ADALAT proceedings were very conductive to seeking amicable

resolution to disputes and saved the parties the cost of litigation. While a similar
conductive environment is provided for in mediation, LOK ADALAT
proceedings are a lot quicker.

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We must remember that LOK ADALATS are not substitute for existing courts.
LOK ADALAT lends itself to easy settlement of money claims; there is scope
for the other disputes as well.
In the end, LOK ADALAT helps Indian Judiciary to remove burden of pending
cases, and can help people to seek permanent agreeable solution to disputes.

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.

PHOTO:

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