Justice on wheels: Mobile Lok Adalat imparts legal know-how to villagers

To bring courts to the doorstep of villagers provide cheap and speedy justice and prevent petty cases from piling up in courts the concept of Mobile Lok Adalat was introduced Sessions are conducted via Mobile Lok Adalat in villages and tribal areas to impart knowledge about basic legal rights and how to exercise themOn March 9 a Mobile Lok Adalat van from Mumbai region was flagged off by Ashok Billare district judge Raigad Shailaja S Sawant principal district and sessions judge and Amol Shinde judge and secretary of District Legal Services Authority RaigadThe Mobile Lok Adalat will visit remote villages in Raigad district including Uran and Panvel talukas and apart from resolving compoundable criminal cases and civil cases including settling of compensation for motor vehicle accidents will also be imparting basic legal knowledge to the villagers explained Mahesh Dayma court manager at District Court RaigadldquoLok Adalat is seen as a successful tool of dispute redressal which takes place by discussion counselling and conciliation and gives speedy justice as it can be organised at any place and can be arranged very fastrdquo pointed out DaymaldquoMaharashtra has three Mobile Lok Adalat facilities one each for Mumbai Nagpur and Aurangabad regions And the entire years programme for the Mobile Lok Adalat has been planned by the respective High Court Legal Services Committees and executed by the respective District Legal Services Authority for the last three years and prior to this the scheduling was handled by the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority MSLSArdquo pointed out an official from the MSLSA on anonymityAlso read Mumbai HC nixes plea challenging disqualification of housing society officebearersNumbers speakAs per National Judicial Data Grid Statistics over 425 crore cases are pending in various courts across Indiamdashincluding 108 crore civil and 317 crore criminal casesmdashwhereas in Maharashtra 1580 lakh civil and 3316 lakh criminal cases are pending in various courts across the stateSuccessful toolAs per the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority between April 2022 and January 2023 4666 Lok Adalat sessions were held and nearly 833 lakh cases were settled and out of 3553 motor vehicle accident cases heard by the Lok Adalat all were settled and victimsfamilies were compensated Rs 423 crorePrincipal District and Sessions Judge Shailaja S Sawant Judge Amol Shinde and District Judge Ashok Bhillare inaugurate the Mobile Lok Adalat on March 6As per the District Legal Services Authority Raigad between January 2020 and December 2022 a total 36 Mobile Lok Adalat sessions were conducted in which 89 cases were settled 67 cases were settled between January and December 2022Day oneOn day one March 10 the Mobile Lok Adalat reached Telwade village MurudJanjira taluka Raigad which has a population of around 10000 people The preceding officer to chair the hearing was District Judge Retired Shrikant Upadhye This was Telwadersquos first encounter with the Mobile Lok AdalatldquoAs per the schedule the litigants and villagers had gathered in a classroom of a primary school In all twentyfive cases were slated for hearing including both minor criminal ones including domestic violence and civil cases such as cheque bouncing trespassing and encroachment The hearing started at 11 am and continued until 1230 pm in which only one case could be settled which means that the remaining cases will be tried before regular courtsrdquo said Jayesh Gurav court clerk Murud taluka courtGurav added ldquoAfter the hearing got over District Judge Retired Upadhye addressed local villagers including tribal women about their legal rights There was a discussion on domestic violence availing free legal aid services etcrdquoGurav and his team have been working on making this event a success for the past eight days ldquoAs this was to be the first time a Mobile Lok Adalat was held in Telwade I had to ensure that the message was communicated in advance to the sarpanch and other important officials Also had to send intimations to the local registered credit cooperative society MSEB and local police station to get their minor cases if any for resolution and I got a good response as many women participants came forwardrdquoThe only case that was settled on March 10 was a cheque bouncing case of Rs 130 lakh Gurav said ldquoA villager had taken a loan from a cooperative credit society and had defaulted A case was then filed before the taluka court Murud by the cooperative credit society in January 2023 after the cheque issued by the party bouncedrdquoThe presiding officer after discussion and conciliation proposed a settlement which the parties agreed to and the defaulter promised to repay the loan The next destination for the Mobile Lok Adalat is Roha where a oneday hearing will happen Then the van will move to another taluka in Raigad The last event will be held on April 6 at Panvel taluka and the drive will end on April 7 On April 30 Lok Adalat will be held in all courts in IndiaAbout the MSLSAThe Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority MSLASA has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 which is enacted to effectuate the mandate enshrined under Articles 14 and 39A of the Constitution of India The main objective of the MSLASA is to take real practical and positive steps to ensure that there is equality and fairness for all in the justice process4896000Total no of cases pending in courts across Maharashtra