Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Third Maha Lok Adalat from 4th March at Nagpur

Bombay High Court Chief Justice Mohit Shah recently credited Maha Lok Adalat for helping the judiciary reduce huge pendency. He told TOI that over four lakh cases were settled during two episodes of this event on February 6 and September 18 last year. Its third edition is coming on March 4, simultaneously across Maharashtra's 35 districts.

In Nagpur district, a total of 90,230 cases were dealt with during first two editions, according to Maharashtra's District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), headed by Bombay High Court judge DK Deshmukh. Principal district and session judge in Nagpur Subhash Mohod is heading the city's DLSA while senior civil judge Kishor Jaiswal is secretary.

Of them, 28,166 were settled with the success rate of 31.21%. The cases included both pre and post-litigation and those resolved during special drives. The first ever Maha Lok Adalat evoked massive response from litigants and lawyers with over 20,000 cases settled while second one was a low key affair with only 8,098 cases were resolved.

"One cannot challenge the settlement of Maha Lok Adalat in any court and this helps reduce burden on higher judiciary as well," Jaiswal told TOI. He informed that resolving cases through this exercise not only saved time and money of litigants but also helped reduce stress.

Third district and additional session judge PV Ganediwala pointed out that this was only way where warring parties could go back happy. "In a court case, someone has to lose and that leads to disappointment," she said, adding that resolving disputes this way could help strengthen relationships.

Jaiswal and Ganediwala stated they were expecting at least 50,000 cases to come up on March 4 and had constituted 75 panels of sitting judges to settle them. "Each panel would have a judicial officer, a lawyer and paralegal volunteer or social worker. Even District Bar Association (DBA) is backing us. The principal judge conducted a series of meetings with the parties concerned including lawyers, finance and insurance companies, commissioner and superintendent of police, collector and others," they informed.

Jaiswal said around 2.30 lakh cases - 1.90 lakh in Nagpur and 39,317 in taluka courts - were pending and Maha Lok Adalat would significantly reduce this number.

Cases resolved during two Maha Lok Adalats last year in Nagpur district:

-------------------------------- Cases --------------------- Settled -------- %ge

1st edition ---------------- 62,324 ---------------------- 20,068 -------- 32.1

2nd edition ---------------- 27,906 ---------------------- 8,098 --------- 29.01

Total ------------------------ 90,230 ---------------------- 28,166 ------- 31.21

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