EMN
Dimapur, April 9
Nagaland State Legal Services Authority today conducted National Lok Adalat throughout the state along with the rest of the country. The Lok Adalat was conducted on labour, family matters, municipal matters, money suit, and petty criminal matters by respective district legal services authority.
Presiding judges were assisted by panel lawyers, paralegal volunteers, and municipal members for municipal matters, and traffic police personnel for traffic cases.
A total of 210 cases were taken up. 195 cases were disposed, with a settlement amount of Rs. 49,880, the Nagaland State Legal Services Authority informed in a note issued through the media on Saturday.
In Kohima, members of the Kohima District Legal Services Authority organized the National Lok Adalat on April 9 at the District Court Building in Kohima town. During the court, various cases relating to municipal matters, labour, and family were taken up, the organizers said in a press release on Saturday.
Altogether 13 cases were taken up during the court, out of which 10 cases were disposed during the National Lok Adalat. Eight cases were pending while two cases were in pre-litigation cases, the organizers said. Three “money suit cases” which were pending before the court were also taken up. However, none of the cases could be settled, the organizers said. The settled amount during the National Lok Adalat was Rs. 1,800, they aded.
The next National Lok Adalat is scheduled to be conducted on May 14 with matters relating to MACT, insurance claims, and banks.
“It is an earnest appeal to all the concerned to bring their cases before the Lok Adalat for speedy and easy disposal of their cases,” the legal services stated.
Lok Adalat
Lok Adalat is a system of alternative dispute-resolution developed in India through the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. It roughly means “People’s court”. India has had a long history of resolving disputes through the mediation of village elders.
The system of Lok Adalats is based on the principles of the Panch Parmeshwar of Gram Panchayats which were also proposed by Mahatma Gandhi. The idea of Lok Adalat was mainly advocated by Justice PN Bhagwati, a former Chief Justice of India.
Lok Adalat is a non-adversarial system, whereby mock courts (called Lok Adalats) are held by the state authority, district authority, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Local Services Committee, or Taluk Legal Services Committee. They are held periodically for exercising such jurisdiction as they determine. These are usually presided over by retired judges, social activists, or other members of the legal profession.
The Lok Adalats can deal with all civil cases, matrimonial disputes, land disputes, partition/property disputes, labour disputes etc., and compoundable criminal cases. The first Lok Adalat was held on March 14, 1982 in Gujarat. Most of the cases are motor accident-related disputes settled through lok adalats. Many public sector entities such as the public sector banks, and electricity departments also took benefit from lok adalats to settle recovery-related matters.
