LOK SABHA
Organizing Lok Adalats
is a continuing process and, by the very nature of the purposes
of holding Lok Adalats, the same are need based as such, no specified
number of Lok Adalats can be indicated.
The Legal Services
Authorities Act, 1987 has been amended with a view to providing
mechanism for pre-litigation, conciliation and settlement. The
amended Act stipulates the establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats
for exercising jurisdiction in respect of disputes relating to
public utility services, such as transport service, postal and
communication. A party to a dispute with such public utility service
has been given the option to make an application to the Permanent
Lok Adalat to be established under the amending Act, which has
been vested with the powers of jurisdiction to decide the matter
and pass a binding award which shall be deemed to be a decree
of the Civil Court and shall be final.
Upto June 30, 2002,
about 1,39,172 Lok Adalats have been held in different parts of
the country where about 1.42 crore cases have been settled. In
about 7.3 lakh Motor Vehicles Accident Claims cases, compensation
amounting to over Rs. 3615.93 crores has been awarded.
This information
was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri K. Jana
Krishnamurthi in a written reply to a question from S/Shri Ananta
Nayak and G.J. Javiya in the Lok Sabha today.
