D K Kapoor
Like other parts of the country, Patron-in-Chief i.e. State Authority under the J&K Legal Service Authority Act, 1997, who is none other than the Chief Justice of the State himself, has also resolutely declared the holding of Lok Adalats herein across the State of Jammu & Kashmir on 23rd November 2013 with the sole object to providing speedy & inexpensive settlement of peoples’ disputes. Preparations are on. Dress rehearsals & interaction with heads of the Insurance Companies, Banking Institutions & video conferencing with the judicial officers etc are on the rise. The aim is big & bigger goals are expected. Aspersions are still higher. Every concerned person is agog. Various kiosks are set up. To say the least, stage is set for a big fete for settlement of exemplary and record number of cases pending before different courts and, to some extent, awaiting institution in courts of law by the above named agencies etc. Chief Justice M.M.Kumar & his distinguished teammates deserve all ovations for pioneering this judicial carnival bringing a great solace to the litigating public & those expecting to be sued in near future. Elite appreciate and convey their best wishes for the thumping success of this people-friendly or we may say, litigant-friendly enterprise. This is but a shot in the arm of State Judiciary.
One thing that the curious people wish to know and what is the subject of their anxiety is that very little number of persons are aware about the concept & manner of working of the Lok Adalats & why should one prefer settlement through this innovated justice delivery mechanism rather than regular courts & through other Forums. Legal Service Authorities Act, 1987 was promulgated by the Union of India on 27th November 1987 but the State of Jammu & Kashmir dedicated almost replica of this legislation to its subjects in 1997.In the beginning the benefits of the Act moved with a snail’s pace for various reasons including the paucity of funds. With the periodical holding of regular Lok Adalats in almost all parts of the State some awareness spread among the people going to courts but for the rest the Act remained an untold story. Earlier some Mega Lok Adalats were also held with great fan-fare & certainly huge number of cases were settled, crores of rupees were distributed to the motor-accident victims, earth quake victims of Uri & flash-flood victims of Ladakh, settlement of insurance claims besides helping recovery of huge loan amount advanced by various banks through the conciliatory method and astute mediation by judges, yet the object behind the legislation remain to be achieved.
In order to more articulate, the Legal Service Authority Act provides an alternate dispute resolution system which is totally different, speedy & inexpensive as compared to the justice delivery system based on procedural laws, adopted in the regular courts. Precisely, when a case is filed in the court, both the parties have to pass through various stage of procedure including examining of witnesses. Finally judgment is delivered by the court and a decree is passed after hearing arguments of the parties. The decision given by the Court can be challenged in appeal before a higher court of competent jurisdiction & there is a provision for a second appeal also. The litigating parties can still move the Supreme Court for redressal of their grievance. Cases are conceivable that litigation does not come to an end even after the SC verdict. Obviously therefore it takes years together for the litigation to come to a halt. In this process parties pay court fee & spend huge money as advocates’ fees and other day-to-day expenditure etc. This process is time-consuming & in a given case the relief may still elude even after a number of rounds of litigation that consume scores of years or even more. The other modes synonym to settlement through Lok Adalat and recognized by law, are settlement through ‘mediation’ (S.89 CPC), Arbitration & Conciliation Act and by appointing an arbitrator of choice. Similarly ‘plea bargaining’ is another beneficial provision in the Criminal Procedure Code for the benefits of accused persons in criminal cases prescribing punishment less than seven years. Even government employees facing criminal trial are benefited by this new provision in the Code without having any adverse effect on the service career.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the best of all is settlement through Lok Adalat. The usual procedure adopted in Lok Adalat is to take up cases of civil nature, Land Disputes, Partition/Property Disputes, Labour Disputes etc, and non-compoundable criminal Cases already pending in civil courts of tehsil level, district level or even in High Court/Supreme Court by referring them to Lok Adalats, which have the jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at a compromise or settlement by conciliatory method or through mediation in which parties themselves actively participate.Where the parties in any case pending before any civil court unanimously agree or one of them makes an application to the concerned court for referring the case to Lok Adalat for settlement and the court, after hearing them, is prima facie satisfied that there are chances of settlement or the court is satisfied that the matter is appropriate one where Lok Adalat can take cognizance, the Court forwards the case to the Lok Adalat for settlement. Regarding cases which are awaiting institution in any court and are likely to be filed in near future by any person or agency (pre litigation cases), the Authority or Committee organizing Lok Adalat is competent to refer such cases to Lok Adalat for determination. In that case a simple application is to be filed by any one of the interested parties. All cases are assigned to a bench of Lok Adalat consisting of sitting or retired judicial officers along with some advocates or other virtuous persons, for arriving at a compromise or reaching a settlement between the parties. Parties may present their case, personally or through advocate, and after negotiation a settlement is reached with consent of the parties, award/decree is drawn like it is done in a regular civil suit, it is signed by the parties, their advocates & the judges of the bench hearing the matter. The matter is resolved within a few hours although it had been hanging fire for some years before the regular court. In this kind of settlement the advocates also play prominent role in educating the parties as to how the settlement reached in a Lok Adalat is beneficial than the regular courts decisions. Once the award/decree is made, it is binding on both the parties. None of them can file appeal against this award of settlement passed in the Lok Adalat. The other important benefit that the person filing suit can avail is that the court fee already paid by him at the time of filing of suit is refunded. It will not be exaggeration to say that settlement reached in Lok Adalat is almost similar to the practice of resolving disputes through the mediation of village elders or panchas and is not an innovated legislation.
Results show that Lok Adalats are doing commendably well all over the country including this State & have come up to the expectations of the people as litigant-friendly institutions. Nevertheless there is marked lack of awareness among the masses. If the same is taken care of, the results would be much better. The Patron-in-chief and the Executive Chairman/SLSA would do well if some public awareness programs through print/electronic media, hoardings at prominent public places, distribution of pamphlets/brochures and the like is also contemplated as public awareness features. The contribution of the Local Bars & NGOs can certainly raise the number of cases coming for non-adversarial settlement in Lok Adalats. Let the steps be slow but steady.
(The author is retd Distt & Sessions Judge)
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