Deepali kalia
Law Ministry’s Tele Consultation Service which was launched to help the people residing in rural areas by connecting them to a panel of lawyers has been receiving various calls from people during pandemic regarding issues arising out of lockdown and various restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
The Tele Law Service was launched in 2017 by the Department of justice in about 1,800 Common Service Centers and now it has expanded and covers 50,000 Gram Panchayats across the entire country.
The scheme allows for legal advice and consultation to be given through tele or video conferencing facilities available in Common Service Centers situated at Gram Panchayats.
It renders free legal advice to those who are entitled to free legal aid as provided under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 and others can avail the service with 30 Rupees per consultation.
Since the Pandemic people have been reaching out to various local centers of the Tele-law scheme for advice regarding various issues such as Police’s autocratic behavior during enforcement of COVID protocols and discrimination faced by health workers and their families as they are wrongly accused of being carriers of Corona virus.
Many calls were received regarding women being exposed to violence in these times.
There were queries regarding property disputes and family quarrels due to migration and displacement among them, retrenchment of employees without notice by the companies due to downsizing amid pandemic, type of vaccination to get , concerns regarding misuse of police powers and also questions regarding various government schemes.