Lok Adalat: Constitution & its Functions

By Mohammed Asif

Published on: March 23, 2022 at 10:00 IST

Introduction

The concept of Lok Adalat is an innovator Indian contribution to World Jurisprudence.

The institution of Lok Adalat in India as the very name suggests, means, People’s Court, Lok stands for people and the vernacular meaning of the term Adalat is the Court.

India has a long tradition and history of such methods being practiced in Society from the beginning. These are widely used in India for the resolution of disputes, both Commercial and Non-Commercial.

Another alternative method being used are Lok Adalat where Justice is dispensed summarily without too much emphasis on Legal Technicalities.

Lok Adalat is one of the fine and familiar forums which has been playing an important role in the settlement of disputes.

History of Lok Adalat

‘People’s Court verdict’ which is an ancient concept of settlement of disputes through Mediation, Negotiation, or through an Arbitrary process or a decision of ‘Naya-Panch’ is conceptualized in the philosophy of Lok Adalat.

People compare Lok Adalat to Conciliation or Mediation, and few treat it with Negotiations and arbitration.

Lok Adalat involves people who are directly or indirectly affected by Dispute Resolution.

Salient features of Lok Adalat

• Participation
• Accommodation
• Reasonableness
• Expectation
• Voluntariness
• Neighborliness
• Transparency
• Efficiency and
• Lack of animosity

The evolution of this movement was a part of a strategy to relieve the heavy burden on the courts with pending cases.

The First Lok Adalat was held on March 14, 1982, at Junagarh in Gujarat.

Lok Adalat have been very successful in the settlement of Motor Accident Claim Cases, Matrimonial or Family Disputes, Labor Disputes, and disputes relating to Public Services such as Telephone, Electricity, Bank Recovery Cases, and so on.

Benefits of Lok Adalat

• There is no Court fee, and even if the case is already filled in the Regular Court, the fee paid will be refunded if the dispute is settled at Lok Adalat.
• There is no strict application of procedural laws and the Evidence Act while assessing the merits of the claim by the Lok Adalat. The Parties to the dispute through represented by the Advocate can interact with the Lok Adalat Judge directly and explain their stand in the dispute and reasons, therefore, which is unobtainable in a regular Court.
• Disputes can be settled at the Lok Adalat directly instead of going to a Regular Court
• In Lok Adalat the decision is binding on the parties and its order is capable of execution through the Legal process.
• In the regular Courts of Law there is always scope to appeal to the higher forum on the decision of the Trial Court but in Lok Adalat, such appeal does not lie against the order of the Lok Adalat
• The scheme of Lok Adalat is a boon to the litigant public, where they can get their dispute settled by fast and free of cost process.
• Its process is voluntary and works on the principle that both parties to the disputes are willing to sort out their dispute by amicable solutions.
• By this, disputes can be settled in an easier, speedier and cost-effective way during all three stages of the litigation i.e., pre-litigation, pending litigation, and post-litigation.

Constitution of Lok Adalat

Lok Adalat have been given statutory recognition since 1987.

The Legal Services Authority Act 1987 pursuant to the constitutional mandate in Article 39A of the Constitution of India contains various provisions for the settlement of disputes through Lok Adalat by which now the Lok Adalat has a statutory basis.

Its constitutive Legal services authorities to provide free and competent legal services for poorer sections of the society to ensure the opportunities for securing Justice which is not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and Lok Adalat to secure by the operation of the legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.

Parliament amended the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 in 2002, requiring the establishment of permanent Lok Adalat for the sake of public utility services.

The Legal Services Authority Act 1987 provides for the setting up of a permanent Lok Adalat which can be approached by any party to a dispute which involves public utility services.

Any civil dispute with the public utility service and where the value of the property in dispute does not exceed 1,000,000 or any criminal dispute which does not involve any offense, not compoundable under any law can be taken up in the permanent Lok Adalat.

An important feature of this amendment is that after an application is made to the permanent Lok Adalat, no party after an application can involve the jurisdiction of any Court in the same dispute.

Such disputes involving Public Utility Services shall be attempted to be settled by the permanent Lok Adalat by way of Conciliation, and, failing that on merit, and in doing so, the permanent Lok Adalat shall be guided by the principles of Natural Justice, Objectivity, Fair play, Equity and other Principles of Justice without being bound by the Code of Civil Procedure and Indian Evidence Act.

Besides the Legal Services Authority Act, there have been several other changes in the law in recent times, one of the most important being the amendment in the Code of Civil Procedure.

Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended in 2002, has opened the scope of the introduction of Conciliation, mediation, and Pre-Trial Settlement Methodologies.

Once the model rules framed with a committee headed by Justice Jagannada Rao, Chairman Law Commission of India under the directions of the Supreme Court of India have been adopted by all the High Courts, funds will need to be sanctioned to meet the need for providing the requisite infrastructure and for employment of Mediators and Conciliators as part of the justice delivery system.

This would drastically bring down the dependency of cases by accelerating the disposal of such cases.

Some of the relevant sections from the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 are quoted as under.

 

Section 19: Organization of Lok Adalat

This Section states that the Central, State, District Legal Services Authority has been created who are responsible for organizing Lok Adalat.

For Lok Adalat conciliators comprise of the following:

• A sitting or retired Judge

Other persons of repute as may be prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court

• 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 Adalat at such intervals and places and for exercising such jurisdiction and for such areas as it thinks fit.
• Every Lok Adalat organized 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 State Authority or the District Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the High Court Legal Services Committee, or as the case may be, the Taluk Legal Services Committee, organizing such Lok Adalat.
• The Experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (2) for Lok Adalat organized 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.
• The Experience and Qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (2) for Lok Adalat 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.
• 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—
• Any Case Pending before; or
• Any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of, and is not brought before, any Court for which the Lok Adalat is organized: Provided that the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any case or matter relating to an offense not compoundable under any law.

Section 20: Cognizance of cases by Lok Adalat

For consideration of Lok Adalat the following cases can be referred as under:

• By Consent of both the Parties to the Disputes
• One of such Parties can make an application for reference
• Where the Court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to be taken cognizance by the Lok Adalat
• Compromise settlement shall be guided by the principles of Justice, Equity, Fair Play, and other Legal Principles
• Where no compromise has been arrived at through Conciliation, the matter shall be returned to the concerned Court for disposal in accordance with the law
• Where in any case referred to in clause (i) of sub-section (5) of section 19 Cognizance of cases by Lok Adalat.—
• Where in any case referred to in clause (i) of sub-section (5) of section 19 (a) the parties thereof agree; or (b) one of the parties thereof makes an application to the court, for referring the case to the Lok Adalat for settlement and if such court is prima facie satisfied that there are chances of such settlement; or

• The Court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to be taken cognizance of by the Lok Adalat, the Court shall refer the case to the Lok Adalat: Provided that no case shall be referred to the Lok Adalat under sub-clause (b) of clause (i) or clause (ii) by such court except after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the parties.
• Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Authority or Committee organizing the Lok Adalat under sub-section (1) of section 19 may, on receipt of an application from any one of the parties to any matter referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (5) of section 19 that such matter needs to be determined by a Lok Adalat, refer such matter to the Lok Adalat, for determination: Provided that no matter shall be referred to the Lok Adalat except after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the other party.
• Where any case is referred to a Lok Adalat under sub-section (1) or where a reference has been made to it under sub-section (2), the Lok Adalat shall proceed to dispose of the case or matter and arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties.
• Every Lok Adalat shall, while determining any reference before it under this Act, act with utmost expedition to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties and shall be guided by the principles of justice, equity, fair play, and other legal principles.
• Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or settlement could be arrived at between the parties, the record of the case shall be returned by it to the court, from which the reference has been received under sub-section (1) for disposal in accordance with the law.
• Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or settlement could be arrived at between the parties, in a matter referred to in sub-section (2), that Lok Adalat shall advise the parties to seek remedy in a court.
• Where the record of the case is returned under sub-section (5) to the court, such court shall proceed to deal with such case from the stage which was reached before such reference under sub-section (1).

 Section 21: Award of Lok Adalat

After the arrangement is arrived at by the consent of the Party’s award is passed by the Conciliators. The matter need not be referred to the concerned Court for the Consent Decree.

• Every award of the Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a decree of a Civil Court or, as the case may be, an order of any other court and where a compromise or settlement has been arrived at, by a Lok Adalat in a case referred to it under sub-section (1) of section 20, the court-free paid in such case shall be refunded in the manner provided under the Court Fees Act, 1870.
• Every award made by a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to the dispute, and no appeal shall lie to any court against the award.

Section 22: Powers of Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat

This section explains that every proceeding of the Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be the Judicial Proceedings for the purpose of:

• Summoning
• Discovery of Documents
• Reception of Evidence
• Requisitioning of Public Record
• The Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat shall, for the purposes of holding any determination under this Act, 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, namely:—
• The Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath;
• The Discovery and Production of any document;
• The Reception of evidence on affidavits;
• The Requisitioning of any Public Record or Document or Copy of such Record or Document from any Court or office; and
• Any other matter as may be prescribed.
• Without prejudice to the generality of the powers contained in sub-section (1), every Lok Adalat or Permanent 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 or Permanent Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be Judicial Proceedings within the meaning of sections 193, 219, and 228 of the Indian Penal Code, and every Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purpose of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Conclusion

The large population of India and the illiterate masses have to find the regular dispensation of justice through regular Courts very cumbersome and ineffective.

The Lok Adalat method 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.

There is a need to use the techniques used in Lok Adalat in a context 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.

The new branches of law will require newer tools to have decisions acceptable to the litigants.

Also read:

Jurisdiction of Civil Courts

Edited by: Advocate Komal Sharma, Publishing Editor at Law Insider

Reference

Gandhi, M.K., The Law and the Lawyers

NALSA Lok Adalat

Lok Adalats And Permanent Lok Adalats