Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: February 05, 2022 at 22:44 IST
Supreme Court of India made an observation that Lok Adalats cannot be held as equivalents of Judicial Courts, as Lok Adalats do not follow the proper judicial method of adjudicating any issue.
The Supreme Court Division Bench of Justices K M Joseph and P S Narsimha was hearing a plea filed by New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) challenging an order of the Delhi High Court within which the High Court had allowed the plea of the Respondents (in the present case), in which they were allowed to invoke Section 28A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The question that arose in the present case is that whether an Award passed by a Lok Adalat under Section 20 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 can form a basis for redetermination of compensation as contemplated under Section 28A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The High Court in this regard had allowed the plea of the current Respondents stating that the aforementioned Award passed by the Lok Adalat would be deemed to be as a decree of a Civil Court. The current Petitioners are challenging the above-mentioned judgment of the High Court.
The Supreme Court Bench in this regard mentioned the case of Umadevi Rajkumar Jeure (Supra) and stated that,
“An Award passed under Section (20) of the 1987 Act by the Lok Adalat cannot be the basis for invoking Section 28A.”
The Bench Added,
“An Award passed by the Lok Adalat is not a compromise decree. An Award passed by the Lok Adalat without anything more, is to be treated as a decree inter alia.” The Bench furthermore added, “We have noticed the composition of a Lok Adalat in Section 19(2) of the ‘1987 Act’. The Court is not the same as a Lok Adalat.”
The Division Bench allowed the plea of the current Petitioners and concluded the case while stating that “We declare that an application under Section 28A of the Act cannot be maintained on the basis of an award passed by the Lok Adalat under Section 20 of 1987 Act.”
