New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, said on Monday that the idea behind the six-day Special Lok Adalat, which started on Monday, is to settle small cases, while senior advocate Kapil Sibal termed it a historic day.
“The Lok Adalat is being held throughout this week by the seven benches of the Supreme Court. Our experience today was a resounding success. Lok Adalat, which has the cooperation of the bar, judges of the Supreme Court and extensive groundwork that has been done by the high courts, state governments and insurance companies. The idea is to settle small cases. People do not realise how small cases come before the Supreme Court,” the CJI told ANI.
Giving an illustration of a few cases coming to the Lok Adalat, CJI said, “So we chose cases involving service disputes, labour disputes, land acquisition cases, motor accident claim cases, cheque dishonour cases…”
“Parties were contacted in advance by the district legal service authorities. They had pre-Lok Adalat sittings, which have helped facilitate the settlements,” CJI said.
Speaking about the significance of the Lok Adalat, CJI said, “The presence of the members of the Bar as part of the Lok Adalat panel along with the judges has sent the right message across society that though the Bar and the Judges are on two different sides normally in Court proceedings, we are stakeholders who are united in our efforts to do justice, particularly to citizens involved in these small cases.”
Referring to a case, the CJI said, ” “I remember a case in which the husband had filed divorce proceedings in Patiala House Court and his wife had filed maintenance proceedings and filed for the custody of the children. Both of them came together in the pre-Lok Adalat sitting and both decided that they will live together. So when both of them came before the Lok Adalat court, I asked them, they said that they have decided to live together happily. The wife said that I do not want maintenance because we are living together very happily.”
Terming it as a historic day, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal congratulated CJI for taking this initiative. “I think it’s a historic day. Never before in the history of this Court has the Court reached out to those people for small matters that linger on for years.”
He added, “It shows the mindset of the Court as to how they want to reach out to the poorest of the poor who can’t afford to deal with this litigation for years, reach out to the district-level legal services authority, try and have them resolved, and then send it here for the final resolution of those matters. I must congratulate the Chief Justice and the entire Supreme Court for taking this effort forward…”
With the aim of bringing down the backlog of cases pending before the Supreme Court, the apex court has begun its five-day special Lok Adalat from Monday.
Organising the Lok Adalat to commemorate the 75th year of its establishment, the apex court is organising Lok Adalat from July 29 to August 3.
The top court had encouraged citizens to take part in the Lok Adalat for resolving disputes voluntarily and amicably.
The Special Lok Adalat is to be held every day after 2 pm, and will have two Supreme Court judges, along with a senior advocate, and one Advocate-on-Record to hear the case. Litigants will also be there in the court for their cases.
