National Lok Adalat held at Chandigarh district court

CHANDIGARH: The State Legal Services Authority along with

District Legal Services Authority

, UT Chandigarh organized

National Lok Adalat

on Saturday in the Chandigarh district court. Necessary directions regarding safety of litigants, staff and judicial officers of the court had been issued keeping in mind current situation of pandemic.

Justice Jaswant Singh

, executive chairman, State Legal Services Authority, UT Chandigarh, during the review meeting had directed that special arrangements are to be made keeping in view necessary

Covid precautions

. It was to be ensured that limited number of cases were marked to each court and at any one time not more than 2 litigants were to be allowed inside the court room while maintaining social distancing. Further at the entrance of the court Thermal screening was done and sanitizers, masks and gloves were distributed.

Eleven benches headed by the serving judicial officers were constituted in the district court Chandigarh. Criminal Compoundable cases under Section 138 of NI Act, Bank Recovery cases, MACT Cases, matrimonial disputes, labour disputes, arbitration matters, other civil cases, municipal matters and traffic challans were taken up and disposed off with the consent of the parties.

In today's National Lok Adalat total 1,034 cases were disposed off by the benches of serving judicial officers constituted in New District Courts Complex, Sector 43, Chandigarh which include 1 Criminal Compoundable case, 683 cases under Section 138 of N.I. Act involving an amount of Rs.21,30,86,738/-, 02 Bank Recovery cases involving amount of Rs.2,82,800/-, 33 Motor Accident Claim cases involving an amount of Rs.3,17,25,000/-, 12 Matrimonial/Family Disputes, 17 Civil Suits and Rent Cases involving an amount of Rs.2,75,600/-, 09 Executions involving an amount of Rs.19,40,583/-, 01 Criminal Revision, 4 Civil Misc., 23 Arbitration cases, 3 Civil/Rent Appeals, 4 cases of 125 Cr.P.C., 1 case of D.V. Act, 79 Municipal Matters and 01 Crl.Appeal were settled, 161 Traffic Challans were also disposed of by imposing a fine of Rs.82,400/-. In addition to above, 52 cases involving an amount of Rs.1,04,61,592/- were disposed of by Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services). 07

pre-litigative cases

involving an amount of Rs.10,74,500/-, 35 Labour Dispute Cases involving an amount of Rs.12,18,498/- and 57 cases relating to Consumer Disputes were also settled.

Vijay Singh, district & sessions judge(incharge) and Ashok Mann. CJM cum Secretary, DLSA thanked for making this Lok Adalat a success and further appealed to resolve their disputes through the Lok Adalats as it provides quick and economical justice.

Virtual National Lok Adalat held at HC

A Virtual National Lok Adalat was held on Saturday in Punjab and Haryana high court. Two benches were constituted. Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi, presided over as President and Ashok Paul Batra, advocate, high court as member of one bench and justice Lalit Batra as president and Arun Kumar Bakshi, advocate high court as member of the second bench. This was the first Virtual National Lok Adalat of the Punjab and Haryana high court which was held keeping in view the outbreak of Covid-19 and all necessary precautionary measures were adopted in this regard thereto.

The advocates of high court whose cases were listed for hearing and disposal registered their appearance, actively participated through video conferencing and assisted the Benches.

It is pertinent to mention here that total 70 cases were listed before the National Lok Adalats out of which 24 cases were Criminal Revisions(CRR under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act), 01 case was of Hindu Marriage Act(FAO) and remaining 45 cases were of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (FAO) Category. In toto 12 cases of MACT (FAO) were disposed of by mutual settlement and an amount of Rs.3855000/-(thirty eight Lakhs and fifty five thousand) was awarded as compensation.