*1,02,343 cases resolved, Rs 70.36 crore settled in National Lok Adalats across J&K
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 9: Under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority, the J&K Legal Services Authority organized 3rd National Lok Adalat of the calendar year 2023 throughout the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir of J&K, today under the leadership of Justice N Kotiswar Singh, Chief Justice, High Court of J&K and Ladakh & Patron-in-Chief, J&K Legal Services Authority, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority and also under the guidance of Justice Sindhu Sharma, Chairperson, High Court Legal Services Committee.
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In order to boost amicable settlements amongst the parties in cases like MACT, Matrimonial disputes, cheque bounce under NI Act, Money recovery, etc, pre-lok adalat sittings and pre-counselling sessions were organized well before the date of National Lok Adalat so that the parties may get more chances for negotiation/dialogue with the opposite parties to arrive at a consensus. Apart from that, webinars and virtual meetings were organized to sensitize the officers of Legal Services Authorities/ Committees, Panel Lawyers and PLVs about the importance of Lok Adalat as a mode for Alternate Dispute Resolution.
A total number of 1,17,266 cases were taken up by 149 Benches in the day long National Lok Adalat at various courts across J&K. 1,02,343 cases were disposed of and an amount of Rs 70,35,71,433 was awarded as compensation/settlement amount in Motor Accident Claims, civil, criminal, labour disputes, Electricity and Water Bills cases, Land Acquisition, Family matters, cheque dishonor and Bank Recovery cases.
The Chief Justice inaugurated the 3rd National Lok Adalat at District Court Complex Poonch. MK Sharma (Principal Secretary to the Chief Justice), Amit Kumar Gupta (Member Secretary JKLSA0, Ashwani Kumar (Principal District & Sessions Judge Poonch), Yasin M Choudhary (Deputy Commissioner), Vinay Kumar (Senior Superintendent of Police), Madan Lal (CJM), Wajahat Hussain Kazmi (Sub Judge Secretary DLSA), Javed Rana (Sub Judge Special Mobile Magistrate), along with president of Bar Advocate Shokit Manhas and all advocates remained present on the occasion.
Chief Justice interacted with the students from different schools and encouraged them to get more knowledge about their legal rights and duties. He also distributed about 14 scooties to the specially abled persons identified by the District Social Welfare Department. The beneficiaries of the MACT cases, Labour Court cases and Revenue Courts were handed over cheques by the Chief Justice. He also inspected the District Court Complex Poonch and ADR Centre Poonch.
In a visit to inspect the district Jail Poonch, the Chief Justice checked all the facilities for the jail inmates and even directly interacted with Jail inmates. Thereafter, he held a formal meeting and interacted with the district administration headed by the Deputy Commissioner. He urged for synergy between the executive and the judiciary. He even asked the DC to arrange Legal literacy clinics in the Panchayat Ghars in the district. The formal interaction between the bar members and the Chief Justice took place in the conference hall of Dak Bunglow Poonch where district bar association presented a memorandum of demands.
In the Lok Adalat, a total of 9 benches were constituted including the revenue and social welfare benches at the district headquarter. A total number of 2432 cases were taken up in the Lok Adalat including civil, criminal, MACT, Bank Recovery and other cases. Out of these 2302 cases were settled by way of mediation, conciliation and compromise. In MACT, 10 cases were settled, 50 criminal cases, 61 civil cases were also decided and a total amount of Rs 71,00,650 was settled.
In Jammu district, Justice Tashi Rabstan inaugurated the 3rd National Lok Adalat at District Court Complex Janipur. Total 23 benches were constituted in different courts to deal with the matters of civil nature, criminal compoundable offences, 138 Negotiable Instruments Act, cases of petty offences, Motor Vehicle Act, Revenue cases, Land Compensation Act, etc.
A total of 47,557 cases were taken up by different benches out of which 46,436 cases and an amount of Rs 15,90,42,271 was settled. Justice Tashi Rabstan (Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority) handed over the cheques to the claimants on spot in presence of Chairman DLSA (Principal District & Sessions Judge ) Jammu Sanjay Parihar and Abdul Nasir (MACT Judge Jammu) who was holding the bench constituted for the cases under Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT). Smriti Sharma (Secretary DLSA Jammu) was also present.
One special bench of Revenue authorities was also constituted under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Jammu and Collector Land Acquisition Act, to deal with the cases pertaining to Land Compensation. The bench settled 1366 pertaining to Land Compensation and an amount of Rs 3,035,9,760 was paid as compensation to different land owners.
In District Court Complex Budgam, the National Lok Adalat was inaugurated by Khalil Ahmad Choudhary, Principal District & Sessions Judge (Chairman, DLSA) Budgam. Each Court had identified cases for Lok Adalat beforehand and same were placed before 6 different benches constituted by DLSA Budgam.
The Bench Number 1 was comprised of Khalil Ahmad Choudhary and Farah Bashir (Munsiff JMIC Budgam), Bench Number 2 comprised of Aijaz Ahmad Khan (Additional District and Sessions Judge Budgam) and Zafar Mehdi (Advocate), Bench Number 3 comprised of Noor Mohammad Mir (Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam) and Advocate Javid Ahmad Mir (Panel Lawyer DLSA Budgam), Bench Number 4 comprised of Mir Wajahat (Sub Judge Chadoora) and Abdul Rashid Hanjura (Advocate, Bar Association Chadoora), Bench Number 5 comprised of Massarat Jabeen (Munsiff JMIC Magam) In-charge (Additional Special Mobile Magistrate, Beerwah) and Arfana Anjum (Advocate) and Bench Number 6 was comprised of Fakhar un Nissa (Munsiff JMIC Chararisharief) and NA Mashooq (president, Bar Association Chararisharief).
Nonetheless, a total number of 1597 matters were taken up for their amicable settlement, out of which 981 matters were settled. Besides, an amount of Rs 11,27,49,417 was realized in total in the settlement.
The proceedings of the National Lok Adalat were inaugurated at District Court Kathua by DLSA Kathua (Principal District & Sessions Judge, Kathua) Ashok Kumar Shavan. Seven Benches for settling the referred cases were constituted in which Bench Number 1 comprised of Ashok Kumar Shavan and Surinder Kumar Thappa (Special Mobile Magistrate, Kathua).
The Bench Number 2 included Kusoom Pandita (Additional District & Sessions Judge, Kathua) and Cheena Sumbria (Munsiff JMIC, Kathua), Bench Number 3 was consisted of Swati Gupta (Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kathua) and Neena Thakur (District Mobile Magistrate, Kathua) and Bench Number 4 included Jeevan Kumar Sharma (Munsiff JMIC, Basohli) and Advocate Shub Kumar (president, Bar Association Basohli).
Likewise, the Bench Number 5 had Jyoti Bhagat (Munsiff JMIC, Billawar) and Poonam Gupta (Member, Billawar), Bench Number 6 consisted of Rajni Bhagat (Munsiff JMIC, Mahanpur) and Radhika Sohan (Teshildar/EMIC Mahanpur) and Bench Number 7 included Rimpi Rani (Munsiff JMIC, Hiranagar) and Vijay Kumar (president, Bar Association Hiranagar).
Secretary, DLSA Kathua, Rekha Kapoor Nischal, coordinated the 3rd National Lok Adalat organized at ADR Centre, District Court Complex Kathua. A total number of 1433 cases were taken up for their amicable settlement out of which 839 cases were settled and an amount of Rs 3,07,40,022 was realized as settlement amount.
In District Court Complex Udhampur, National Lok Adalat was held under the chairmanship of Haq Nawaz Zargar (Principal District & Sessions Judge, Udhampur). A total of 8 benches were constituted for the Lok Adalat. The total number of 3067 cases pertaining to different nature was taken up, out of which 2669 cases were settled and an amount of Rs 2,10,24,431 recovered.
The Bench Number 1 comprised of Haq Nawaz Zargar and Dinesh Gupta (Additional District & Sessions Judge, Udhampur), Bench Number 2 comprised of Slahuddin Ahmed (Sub Judge/Special Mobile Magistrate, Udhampur) and Advocate Nikhileshwar Singh (Panel Lawyer, Udhampur), Bench Number 3 comprised of Vishal Bharti, District Mobile Magistrate (T), Udhampur and Advocate Akhil Dubey (Panel Lawyer, Udhampur) and Bench Number 4 comprised of Bhanu Bhasin (Additional Special Mobile Magistrate, Udhampur) and Advocate Vijay Lakshmi.
The Bench Number 5 had Pradyot Gupta (Assistant Labour Commissioner) and Advocate Aakash Sanmotra, Bench Number 6 comprised of Sub Judge Raj Kumar (Chairman TLSC) Ramnagar and Advocate KD Sharma (Lawyer) TLSC Ramnagar, Bench Number 7 comprised of Madhu Sharma (Munsiff JMIC Majalta) and Advocate Mohan Lal Gupta, and Bench Number 8 included Rekha Sharma (Munsiff JMIC Chenani) and Advocate Balwan Singh (Panel Lawyer, Chenani).
In District Court Complex Doda, 111 cases including Civil suits, Motor Accident Claims etc were taken up by the Bench comprising of Additional District Judge-/Presiding Officer MACT-Doda Amarjeet Singh Langeh and Shazia Chowdhary (Additional Special Mobile Magistrate, Doda) out of which 92 cases were settled/disposed off.
An amount of Rs 1,35,70,000 was awarded in accident claim cases while as one Civil suit instituted in the year 1995 was also settled for Rs 1,50,000 by persuasive indulgence of the Bench and active co-operation of parties and advocates.
In district Samba, the Lok Adalat was inaugurated by Yesh Paul Kotwal, Chairman DLSA Samba (Principal District & Sessions Judge, Samba) at District Court Complex Samba wherein six Benches for settling the referred cases (both Pre and Post Litigation) were constituted.
The Bench Number 1 consisted of Yesh Paul Kotwal and Rekha Kapoor Nischal (Secretary, DLSA Samba), Bench Number 2 comprised of Adnan Sayeed (Additional District & Sessions Judge, Samba) and Himani Parihar (Munsiff, Samba) and Bench Number 3 was comprised of Preet Simran Kour (Chief Judicial Magistrate Samba) and Urvashi Raina (Additional Munsiff, Samba).
The Bench Number 4 included Ananta Raina (Additional Special Mobile Magistrate, Samba) and Shammi Kumar (ARTO Samba), Bench No 5 consisted of Suresh Chander Sharma (Additional Deputy Commissioner Samba) and Mohit Gupta (Tehsildar Samba) and Bench Number 6 included Amil Khateeb (Assistant Labour Commissioner Samba) and Pawan Bhatti (Labour Officer, Samba).
Rekha Kapoor Nischal (Secretary, DLSA Samba) coordinated the National Lok Adalat organized at ADR Centre, District Court Complex Samba. A total number of 2305 cases were taken up for their amicable settlement out of which 2070 cases were settled and an amount of Rs 21993807 was realized as settlement amount.
Besides this, DLSA Samba also organized a Legal Awareness program on ”LokAdalats; Strategic Forum For Speedy Justice” for the students of Dogra Law College Bari Brahamana, Samba at Conference Hall, ADR Centre.
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