New Delhi: Faced with 39 lakh pending cases, Supreme Court Chief Justice P. Sathasivam Saturday inaugurated a day-long National Lok Adalat. For the first time, cases are being taken up simultaneously all over the country for settlement.
Organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, the Lok Adalats are taking place in the Supreme Court, 24 high courts and all the district courts and taluka-level courts of the country.
Inaugurating the National Lok Adalat, Chief Justice Sathasivam said that the main object of the adalat was to ensure speedy justice to litigants and make sure that there were no further appeals. He described the resolution of disputes through the Lok Adalat as cost-effective, providing also easy access to justice.
The cases that will be settled Saturday include motor-accident claims, matrimonial disputes, labour disputes, cheque bounce cases, bank recovery cases, civil suits and traffic challans.
The chief justice urged the presiding judges to ensure that parties to the settlement of the cases are not intimidated or compromised while arriving at a settlement. He cautioned that Lok Adalats should not be allowed to be used by unscrupulous elements, who defraud people.
Of the 39 lakh cases that are being take up by different Lok Adalats all over the country Saturday, 7,94,484 are in Madhya Pradesh, 5,66,102 in Maharashtra, and about four lakh cases each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Three lakh cases are being decided in Delhi, of which 273,000 relate to dud cheques.
