Lok Adalats under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987: A Gateway to Speedy and Equitable Justice

Abstract

Access to justice to everyone through efficacious justice delivery mechanism is a compulsion for the existence of a democratic system. Access to courts does not mean to give permission to enter into court room but in true sense it means to provide an opportunity to seek justice to all irrespective of their socio-economic differences. Therefore, there appears to be deep felt need to think of introducing changes in the mode, method and even the forum for settling disputes, before the existing judicial system itself is engulfed by its own weight of loads of cases. The search for new method has been completed by introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution (for brevity 'ADR') mechanism which also includes the Lok Adalat system. The introduction of Lok Adalats added a new beginning to the democratization of justice in India by providing an additional forum to the people for satisfactory settlement of their disputes. 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 at pre-litigation stage are settled in an amicable manner. It is a legal body under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. This system is based on Gandhian principles. Lok Adalats serve very crucial functions in India due to many factors like pending cases, illiteracy, poverty, high vacancy in courts etc. Lok Adalat has symbolized a human sensitive forum to provide amicable, speedy, cheap justice by adopting informal procedure and avoiding technicalities. The Lok Adalat system is widespread and has the potential to settle many more millions of disputes. As a means for dispute resolution, this system has the potential to relieve the overburdened dockets of more formal courts. Lok Adalats also provide people with opportunities for justice that they might not otherwise have in the formal court system.

This article is aimed at studying the prevalent state of affairs as regards the functioning of Lok Adalats under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and to have a more comprehensive understanding of the structural capacities and deficiencies. In addition to that, the article aims to identify the issues and factors which are impeding a more efficient functioning of the Lok Adalats, thereby also identifying the reformative measures through which the functioning of the Lok Adalats can be made more efficient.