Continuous Lok Adalat is being held at High Court of Delhi by DHCLSC twice in a week for the pending cases of Hon’ble High Court. The Continuous Lok Adalat is being presided over by the Hon’ble Retired Judges alongwith an associate advocate member.

At present following Hon’ble Retired Judges of Delhi High Court are in the panel of DHCLSC for conducting Continuous Lok Adalat:-

1. HMJ Satpal (Rtd.)

2. HMJ J.P. Singh (Rtd.)

3. HMJ R.P. Gupta (Rtd.)

4. HMJ R.L. Gupta (Rtd.)

5. HMJ Mohd. Shamim (Rtd.)

Any litigant or Ld. Advocate can request Hon’ble Court for referring the pending matters to Continuous Lok Adalat for settlement.

Stattement of Continues LOK Adalat

 

Organization of Lok Adalats

1.    Every State Authority or District Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee every High Court Legal Services Committee may organize Lok Adalats at such intervals and places and exercising such jurisdiction and for Such areas as it thinks fit.

     2.    Every Lok Adalat organized for an area shall consists of such number of :

          (a)      Serving or retired judicial officers; and

          (b)      Other persons,

         

Of the area as may be specified by the State Authority or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee or the High Court Legal Services Committee, or as the case may be, the Taluk Legal Services Committee, organizing such Lok Adalat.

 

3.    The experience and qualifications of other person referred to in clause (b) of subsection (2) for Lok Adalat organized by the Supreme Court Legal Service Committee shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

 

4.    The experience and qualifications of other persons referred to in clause (b)of subsection (2) for Lok Adalats other than referred to in subsection (3) shall be such as may be prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court.

 

5.    A Lok Adalat shall have jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties to a dispute in respect of :

         

(i)   any case pending before; or

(ii) any matter which is falling within the jurisdiction of, and is not brought before any court for which Provided that the Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any case ao matter relating to an offence not compoundable under nay law:}

 

Cognizance of cases by Lok Adalat

 

1.    Where in any case referred to in clause (i) of subsection (5) of section 19:

(i)       (a) the parties thereof agree; or
   (b) one of the parties thereof makes an application to the court for referring the case to the Lok Adalat for settlement and if such court is prima-facie satisfied that there are chances of such settlement; or

(ii)      The court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one to be taken cognizance of by the Lok Adalat;The court shall refer the case to the Lok Adalat:Provided that no case shall be referred to the Lok Adalat under sub-clauses (b) of clause (i) or clause (ii) by such court except after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the parties.

 

2.     Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Authority or Committee organizing the Lok Adalat under sub-section (1) of section 9 may, on receipt of an application from any one of the parties to any matter referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (5) of section 19 that such matter needs to be determined by a Lok Adalat, refer such matter to the Lok Adalat, for determination.

 

Provided that no matter shall be referred to the Lok Adalat except after giving reasonable opportunity of being heard to the other party.

                  

3.     Where nay case is referred to a Lok Adalat under sub0section (1) or where  reference has been made to it under sub-section (2), the Lok Adalat shall proceed to dispose of the case or matter and arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties.

 

4.    Every Lok Adalat shall, while determining any reference before it under this Act with utmost expedition to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties to guide by the principles of justice, equity, fair play and other legal principles.

 

5.     Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or settlement could be arrived at between the parties, the record of the case shall be returned back to the court, from which the reference has been received under sub-section (1) for disposal in accordance with law.

 

6.     Where no award is made by the Lok Adalat on the ground that no compromise or settlement could be arrived at between the parties in a matter referred to in sub-section (2) that Lok Adalat shall advise the parties to seek remedy in a court.

7. Where the record of the case is returned under sub-section (5) to the court, such court shall proceed to deal with such case from the stage which was reached before such reference under sub-section (1).

         

Award of Lok Adalat

1. Every award of the Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be a decree of civil or as the case may be, an order of any court and where a compromise or settlement has been arrived at by a Lok Adalat in case referred to it under sub-section (1) of section 20, the court-fee paid in such case shall be refunded in the manner provided under the Court-fees Act,1870.) 

2. Every award made by a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding an all the parties to the dispute, and no appeal shall lie to nay court against the award.

 

Powers of Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat

(1) The (Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat) shall, for the purposes of holding any determination under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, while trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a)     The summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath;-

(b)      The discovery and production of any document;

(c)      The reception of evidence on affidavits;

(d)      The requisitioning of any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any court or office; and

(e)      Such other matters as may be prescribed;

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers contained in subscription (1), every (Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat) shall have the requisite powers to specify its own procedure for the determination of nay dispute coming before

(3)All proceedings before a (Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat) shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193, 219 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code and every {Lok Adalat or Permanent Lok Adalat} shall be deemed to be a civil court XXVI of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

 

PRE-LITIGATION CONCILIATION AND SETTLEMENT

 

Definitions

 

A .In this chapter and for the purposes of sections 22 and 23, unless the context otherwise requires.

         

(a)Permanent Lok Adalat” means a Permanent Lok Adalat established under sub-section (1) if section 22B;

(b)“Public utility service” means any:

(i)           Transport service for the carriage of passengers of goods by air, road or water: or

(ii)          Postal, telegram or telephone service; or

(iii)         Supply or power, light or water to the public by any establishment: or

(iv)         System of public conservancy or sanitation: or

(v)          Service in hospital or dispensary: or

(vi)         Insurance service,

 

And includes any services which the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, in the public interest, by notification, declare to a public utility service for the purposes of this chapter

 

B.       Establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats

 

1.Notwithstanding anything contained in section 19, the Central Authority or, as the case may be, every state Authority shall, by notification, establish Permanent Lok Adalats at such places and for exercise such jurisdiction in respect of one or more public utility services and for such areas as may be specified in the notification.

(2) Every Permanent Lok Adalat established   under sub-section (1) shall consists of: 

(a)a person who is, or has been, a district Judge or additional district Judge or has held Judicial office higher in rank than that of a district Judge, shall be the Chairman of the Parliament Lok Adalat; and

(b)Two other persons having adequate experience in public utility service to be nominated by the central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government on the recommendation of the central Authority or, as the case may be, the State Authority, appointed by the Central Authority or, as the case may be, the State Authority, established such Permanent Lok Adalat and the other terms and conditions of the appointment of the Chairman and other person referred to in clause (b) shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.

 

C.       Cognizance of cases by Permanent Lok Adalat

         

(1) Any part to a dispute may, before the dispute is brought before nay court, make an appointment to the Permanent Lok Adalat for the settlement of dispute;Provided that the Permanent Lok Adalat shall not have jurisdiction in respect of nay matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any law;Provided further that the Permanent Lok Adalat shall also not have jurisdiction in the matter where the value of the property in dispute exceeds ten lakh rupees;Provided also that the Central Government may, by notification, increase the limit of ten lakh rupees specified in the second provision in consultation with the Central Authority

(2)After an application is made under sub-section (1) to the Permanent Lok Adalat, no party to that application shall invoke jurisdiction of any court in the same dispute. 

(3)Where an application is made to a Permanent Lok Adalat under sub- section (1), it

(a) shall direct each party to the application to file before it a written statement, stating therein the facts and nature of dispute under the application, points of issues in such dispute and grounds relied in support of, or in opposition to, such points or issues, as the case may be, and such party may supplement each statement with ay document and other evidence which such party dems appropriate in proof of such facts and grounds and shall send a copy of such document and other evidence, if any, to each of the parties to the application;

(b) may require any party to the application to file additional statement before it at any stage of the conciliation proceedings;

(c) Shall communicate any document or statement received by it from any party to the application other party, to enable such other party to present reply thereto.

 

(4) When statement, additional statement and reply, if any, have been filed under sub-section (3), to the satisfaction of the Permanent Lok Adalat, it shall conduct conciliation proceedings between the parties to the application in such manner as it thinks appropriate taking inti account the circumstances of the dispute. 

(5) The Permanent Lok Adalat shall, during conduct of conciliation proceedings under sub-section(4), assists the parties in their attempt to reach a settlement of the dispute in an independent and impartial manner. 

(6)  It shall be the duty of every party to the application to cooperate in good faith with the Permanent Lok Adalat in conciliation of the dispute relating to the application and to comply with the direction of the Permanent Lok Adalat to produce evidence and other related documents before it. 

(7)  When a Permanent Lok Adalat, in the aforesaid conciliation proceedings, is of opinion that there exist elements of settlement in such proceedings which may be acceptable to the parties, it may formulate the terms of a possible settlement of the dispute, they shall sign the settlement agreement and the Permanent Lok Adalat shall pass an award in terms thereof and furnish a copy of the same to each of the parties concerned. 

(8) Where the parties fail to reach at an agreement under sub-section (7), the Permanent Lok Adalat shall, if the dispute does not relate to any offence, decide the dispute.

 

D.       Procedure of Permanent Lok Adalat

 

The Permanent Lok Adalat shall, while conducting conciliation proceedings or deciding a dispute on………under this act, be guided by the principles of natural justice, objectively, fair play, equity and other principles of justice, and shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Indian evidence Act, 1892.

 

 

E.       Award of Permanent Lok Adalat to be final

(1)          Every award of the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act made either on merit or in terms of a settlement agreement shall be final and binding on all the parties thereto on persons claiming under them. 

(2)          Every award of the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Ct shall be deemed to be a degree of a civil course. 

(3)          The award made by the Permanent Lok Adalat under this Act shall be a majority of the persons constituting the Permanent Lok Adalat. 

(4)          Every award mabe by the Permanent LIK Adalat under this Act shall be final and shall not be called in question in any original suit, application execution proceedings. 

(5)          The Permanent Lok Adalat may transmit any award made by it to civil court having local jurisdiction and such civil court shall execute the order as of it were a degree made by that court. 

 

Members and staff of Authorities, Committee and Lok Adalats to be public servants.

 

The members including Members- Secretary or, as the case mat be, Secretary of the Central Authority, the State Authorities, the District Authorities, the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Legal services Committees, Taulak Legal Services Committees and the members of the Lok Adalats or the persons constituting Permanent Lok Adalat shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

 

Protection of action taken in good faith       

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against: 

(a)  the Central Government or State Government, 

(b) The Patron-in-chief, Executive Chairman, Member, Member-Secretary or officers or other employees of the Central Authority; 

(c) The Patron-in-chief, Executive Chairman, Member, Member-Secretary or officers or other employees of the State Authority,

(d)Chairman Secretary, members or officers or other employees of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Legal Service Committee, Taulak Legal Services Committee or the District authority; or 

(e)Any other members authorizes by nay of the Patron-in-Chief, Executive Chairman, members, Member-Secretary referred to in sub-clause (b) or (d), for any thing which is in good faith done or intended to be done under the provisions of this Act or any rule or regulations made there under.

 

 

Act to have overriding effect
The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force ir in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act.

 

Power to remove difficulties

 

(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, be order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty. 

(2)Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before each House of Parliament.

 

 

Powers of the Central Government to make rules

(1) The Central Government in consultation with the chief justice of India may, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act,

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely :-

(a) The number, experience and qualifications of the Member-Secretary of the central Authority and his powers and functions under sub-section (2) of section 3:

(b) the experience and qualifications of the Member-Secretary of the Central Authority and his powers and functions under sub-section (3) of section (3);

(c) the terms of office and other conditions relating thereto, of members and Member-Secretary of the Central Authority under sub-section (4) of section 3;

(d) the number of officers and other employees of the Central Authority under sub-section (5) of section 3; 

 

 Procedure for organizing Lok Adalat

(1) The Secretary of the District Authority shall convince and organize Lok Adalat at regular intervals or on such dates, as may be directed by the State Authority;Provide that in order to co-ordinate the holdings of Lok Adalats, Member Secretary may, with the approval of the Executive Chairman prepare a quarterly roaster of holding Lok Adalat at different places. 
(2) Intimation to the State Authority – The Secretary of the District Authority shall inform the State Authority about the proposal to organize the Lok Adalat well before the date on which the Lok Adalat is proposed to be organized.

 

 

Notice to the parties concerned

(3) The State Authority or the Secretary of the District Authority, as the case may be, may call for the judicial record of those pending cases which are referred to the Lok Adalat under Section 20 of the Act from the concerned courts.

(4) Pre-litigation cases shall be obtained by the State Authority to the Secretary of the District Authority as the case may be, to be placed before the Lok Adalat.

(5) Each judicial authority shall co-operate in transmission of court records.

(6) The Judicial records shall be returned immediately after holdings the Lok Adalat, irrespective of whether or not the case is settled by the Lok Adalat with an endorsement about the result of the proceedings.