With the view to achieving early settlement of disputes in the courts particularly, in matters where formal and elaborate examination of evidence is not necessary, Delhi Commission for Women along with Delhi Legal Services Authority held a 'Lok Adalat' on 03.03.2002.
The main advantages of Lok Adalat are:
 |
It brings the parties to a compromise or settlement and legal sanctity is given to it. |
|
|
It allows transfer of any compoundable matter or other proceedings pending before any civil or criminal court constituted under any law in the area, for arriving at a compromise or settlement. |
|
|
It gives legal sanctity to the award which is binding on both the parties. |
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the Lok Adalat was to provide an alternative to the mainstream legal system. The reason for holding Lok Adalat or people's court for family disputes lies in the growing dissatisfaction with the existing legal system and the need for immediate relief for women who are in distressed familial circumstances. The requirement of immediate redressal and speedy disposal of matrimonial dispute was felt as most acutely in the present socio-legal circumstances. In view of these circumstances, an attempt was made to bring justice to the door steps of women, who are in need. Thus, it was decided to organize Lok Adalat for considering cases of family disputes wherein women are involved. The Lok Adalat was organized with the following objectives amongst others:
Provide speedy justice to women
To generate awareness among the public regarding conciliatory mode of dispute settlement and legal sanctity of Lok Adalat
To gear up the process of organizing Lok Adalat
To encourage the public to settle their outside the formal set-up
To empower public especially women to participate in justice delivery system.
METHODOLOGY
In total, the Delhi Commission for Women received 535 cases from parties interested in submitting their matters to the Lok Adalat. This included the cases that were pending before the Commission as well as fresh cases filed by parties who approached the Delhi Commission for Women following public advertisements. After scrutiny, 140 cases were short-listed by the DCW. The complainants were called at the Commission and the coordinators from Lawyers Collective interviewed the applicants to assess the nature of settlement they were looking for. The factors taken into account for scrutinizing the cases were:
|
|
whether the dispute between the parties is of such nature that can be decided by the Lok Adalat |
|
|
whether there is any possibility of arriving at a settlement between the parties. |
A concrete strategy was formulated and an action plan was made. After discussion, it was felt that the applicants must be given complete information regarding options available to them and details of functioning of Lok Adalat. It was decided that there should be client interaction at two levels. First level of interaction would be with the applicant alone wherein the applicant was informed of the options available to him/her. The second level of interaction would be with both the parties wherein the applicant and respondent would be informed of how their disputes could be resolved by settlement at the Lok Adalat. At this stage, the counselling was given to the parties for the Lok Adalat by DLSA and the Lawyers Collective assisted in arriving at a settlement. This exercise was to safeguard interest of the parties and to give them time to rethink on their decisions.
The action plan was:
|
|
A stipulated time line was made to achieve the target |
|
|
A proforma for each case was prepared |
|
|
First client meeting was organized in Delhi Commission for Women on 19th and 20th January, 2002. |
|
|
A detailed report was made on each client interaction |
|
|
Second client meeting was organized at Delhi Legal Services Authority on 1st March, 2002. |
Finally, out of 140 cases 50 cases were listed for the Lok Adalat on 3rd March, 2002.
ACHIEVEMENT
Lok Adalat held on 03.03.2002 was a tremendous success in providing an expeditious settlement of the dispute and a sense of justice to the parties who opted for settlement through the Adalat. Out of the 50 cases listed for Lok Adalat, 20 cases were settled on that day itself and another 10 cases were scheduled to be heard at the next Lok Adalat. Out of the 20 matters, 8 matters were decreed and in 12 cases amicable settlement could be arrived at.