Umamageswari Maruthappan
In an attempt to resolve family disputes through mediation, the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority along with the family court in Thane has set up a pre-litigation counselling centre in the district.
The centre, named “Let’s talk” will be functioning three days a week, that is to say, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The timing is 2:00pm to 5:00pm.
Free guidance and counseling will be provided by expert psychologists including those from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai University and SNDT University.
The Centre was inaugurated on 16th January 2021 by Justice AA Sayed and the Executive chairman of the State Legal Services Authority. While Thane Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar was invited as a special guest, several prominent persons were present as chief guests.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court had set up a counselling centre which was inaugurated on 23rd February 2018. Bombay High Court stands first among other High Courts to initiated this facility.
There are a number of such Centres in districts all over the country, including the one in Pune[ (Maharashtra) and Panchkula (Haryana). Now, the Thane District has added this convenience to its family court.
The centre aims at resolving family disputes including matrimonial issues before they reach the doors of the Courts. This could help families in settling their problems through mediation.
Thane Family Court Judge Aruna Farswani asked people to take advantage of the free centre as it would help families, senior citizens etc. to resolve disputes without having to take recourse to litigation.
The free services is likely to encourage people to first move to the counselling centre rather than going through litigation processes which could incur a hefty amount.