KOLKATA: As part of the first national Lok Adalat of 2023, 386 benches in Bengal on Saturday heard 3.3 lakh cases in the state and settled 2.3 lakh cases for a total settlement amount of Rs 415.3 crore — the highest till date.
Raju Mukherjee, member secretary of West Bengal state legal services authority (WBSLSA), said 4,262 cheque dishonour cases were heard and all were settled for Rs 236 crore in 18 benches of the city sessions court complex. For 5,511 petty offences in the Kolkata Police area a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh was recovered.
“While Rs 4.2 lakh was recovered as fine in 4,137 motor vehicles cases, Rs 59.8 lakh was settled as fine in 45,564 motor vehicles traffic citation cases. There were 1,385 cases of violation of the Disaster Management Act and all were released with admonition, without imposing any fine,” Mukherjee said.
From 31,528 criminal compoundable cases out of 36,042 cases heard throughout Bengal, a fine of Rs 92 lakh was recovered. The amount settled from 8,001 bank recovery cases was Rs 31.7 crore. This time, there were 43 cases of workmen compensation settlement at Rs 2.5 crore. “Out of 16 land acquisition matters, eight were settled at Rs 7.8 lakh,” Mukherjee said.
Even telephone matters were also taken by the Lok Adalat benches and out of 6,254 such cases, only 688 cases were disposed of at a settlement amount of Rs 27.6 lakh. Out of 1,751 electricity-related cases, 1,067 cases were settled at Rs 68.2 lakh. Various pre-litigation cases amounting to 631 were heard and among them, 255 were settled at Rs 9.5 lakh.
Calcutta High Court judge TS Sivagnanam, who is the executive chairman of WBSLSA, has asked the officials to hold another Lok Adalat in March and it is likely to be held exclusively for the disposal of traffic violation matters, an official said. Justice Sivagnanam had also asked the officials to be cautious about fake motor accident claims cases.
Subhro Kanti Dhar, secretary of the district legal services authority, South 24-Parganas, said there had been 59 benches in the district, out of which 43 operated at Alipore. In South 24 Parganas, 1.1 lakh cases were settled for an amount of Rs 36.5 crore.
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