{"id":56589,"date":"2020-03-04T17:03:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T11:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=56589"},"modified":"2020-03-04T17:03:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T11:33:41","slug":"answered-what-are-lok-adalats-why-were-they-established-discuss-the-role-of-lok-adalats-and-their-limitations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-what-are-lok-adalats-why-were-they-established-discuss-the-role-of-lok-adalats-and-their-limitations\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] What are Lok Adalats? Why were they established? Discuss the role of Lok Adalats and their limitations."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n Demand of the question<\/strong>\n Introduction.\n <\/strong>What are Lok Adalats?\n Body.\n <\/strong>Discuss the reason for their establishment. What\n are their functions and limitations?\n Conclusion.\n <\/strong>Way forward.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lok Adalat (People’s Court) is one of the\nalternative dispute resolution mechanisms, where the cases or disputes which\nare pending in a court or which are at pre-litigation stage are settled in an\namicable manner. It is a statutory body under the Legal Services Authorities\nAct, 1987. This system is based on Gandhian principles. Lok Adalats serve very\ncrucial functions in India due to many factors like pending cases, illiteracy,\npoverty, high vacancy in courts etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason\nfor establishment of<\/strong> Lok Adalats:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Equal justice and free legal aid:<\/strong> Article 39A of the Constitution states that\ncitizens of India are entitled to equal justice and free legal aid. Hence, the\nParliament enacted the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to create national,\nstate and district level authorities to establish Lok Adalats. <\/li>
  2. Speedy trial of the disputes: <\/strong>The basic features of Lok Adalat are the\nprocedural flexibility and speedy trial of the disputes. There is no strict\napplication of procedural laws like the Civil Procedure Code and the Evidence\nAct while assessing the claim by Lok Adalat.<\/li>
  3. Reducing backlog: <\/strong>The other reason was to clear the massive backlog of\npending cases in the Indian judicial system as well as to bring speedy justice\nto all. The matters in Lok Adalat do not linger on for years but are settled\nwithin a day.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Role\nof Lok Adalats:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Dispute settlement: <\/strong>To hear and settle long pending cases, which are disposed\nthrough compromise and settlement. It can hear both civil and criminal cases.<\/li>
    2. Justice: <\/strong>The aim of Lok Adalats is to bring justice to poor and\nunderprivileged people of India. It ensures that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to\nany citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.<\/li>
    3. Alternate dispute resolution:<\/strong> The system of Lok Adalat, which is an\ninnovative mechanism for alternate dispute resolution, has proved effective for\nresolving disputes in a spirit of conciliation outside the courts. <\/li>
    4. Reducing litigation: <\/strong>It can take up pending cases as well as those\nthat are in pre litigation stage. The verdict given by the Lok Adalat is final\nand binding, and there is no provision for appeal. But the party is free to\ninitiate a new litigation in court.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Limitations\nof Lok Adalats: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Complexity: <\/strong>The biggest disadvantage with Lok Adalats\nis that repeated sittings at short intervals with the same judge are almost not\npossible which breaks the continuity of the deliberations.<\/li>
      2. Lack of confidentiality: <\/strong>Lok Adalat proceedings are held in the open\ncourt and any member of public may witness these proceedings. Thus, the element\nof confidentiality is also lacking. This also impedes the process of\nexploration of various resolution options and ultimately the success rate in matters where parties desire\nconfidentiality.<\/li>
      3. Forced injustice: <\/strong>Lok Adalats are fora where voluntary efforts\nintended to bring about settlement of disputes between the parties are made\nthrough conciliatory and persuasive efforts. Many times\nvictims are forced to settle at lower compensation.<\/li>
      4. Diminished party autonomy: <\/strong>It cannot be said that the parties remain in\nabsolute control of the proceedings in contradistinction to what happens in\nmediation.<\/li>
      5. Needs consent of both the parties: <\/strong>The most important factor to be considered while\ndeciding the cases at the Lok Adalat is the consent of both the parties. It\ncannot be forced on any party that the matter has to be decided by the Lok\nAdalat.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The Lok Adalat Movement can be successful\nonly if the people participate on voluntary basis in the functioning of Lok\nAdalat. This can be achieved by restraining themselves from invoking the\njurisdiction of traditional Courts in trifle disputes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Demand of the question Introduction. What are Lok Adalats? Body. Discuss the reason for their establishment. What are their functions and limitations? Conclusion. Way forward. Lok Adalat (People’s Court) is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, where the cases or disputes which are pending in a court or which are at pre-litigation stage are… Continue reading [Answered] What are Lok Adalats? Why were they established? Discuss the role of Lok Adalats and their limitations.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56589","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}