National Legal Services Authority: 1st National Lok Adalat Of 2024

In a significant stride towards fostering an accessible and inclusive justice system, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) successfully organized the 1st National Lok Adalat for the year 2024 in the Taluks, Districts and High Courts in the 34 States/UTs on 9th March 2024. Due to the administrative reasons, the 1st National Lok Adalat was held in Maharashtra, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu on 3rd March 2024 and it will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka on 16th March 2024.

Under the esteemed stewardship of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge, Supreme Court of India, and Executive Chairman, NALSA, this initiative aligns with the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and the National Legal Services Authority (Lok Adalats) Regulations, 2009. The Lok Adalats, with statutory status, provide an expeditious, economical, and efficient alternative dispute resolution mechanism, settling disputes amicably with final awards.

Addressing a broad spectrum of pre-litigation and pending cases, including criminal compoundable offences, traffic challans, revenue cases, bank recovery cases, motor accident claims, cheque dishonour cases, labour disputes, matrimonial disputes (excluding divorce cases), land acquisition cases, IPR or consumer matters, and other civil cases, the National Lok Adalat embodies NALSA's commitment to providing comprehensive legal remedies.

According to information from the State Legal Services Authorities nationwide, a total of 1,13,60,144 cases have been settled at the 1st National Lok Adalat on 09.03.2024 including 17,14,056 pending cases and 96,46,088 pre-litigation cases. The approximate value of the total settlement amount in these cases was Rs. 8065.29 crores. The number of settled cases will rise as reports are awaited from some State Legal Services Authorities.

These figures show the effectiveness of alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution, reflecting the success of the National Lok Adalat in achieving its objectives. This National Lok Adalat marks a pivotal moment in NALSA's commitment to ensuring justice for all, transcending barriers, and redefining the landscape of dispute resolution in the country.