PNS | DEHRADUN
The recently concluded 38th National Games had a unique stall which played a part in raising legal awareness in the public. This stall was aimed at raising public awareness about the roles, objectives and various benefits they can draw from the services rendered by the Legal Services Authorities namely National Legal Services Authority, New Delhi, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority, High Court Legal Services Committee and District Legal Services Authority, Almora. Over 4,300 persons got to know about the benefits they can draw from such authorities, in case of need and especially about free legal aid which is provided at different levels to make justice accessible to all citizens.
People are often unaware that they can benefit from District Legal Services Authority in case of victim compensation matters also. The DLSA periodically holds Lok Adalats and helps in the disposal of pending cases in criminal courts which are compoundable in nature and other matters on the basis of amicable settlement of parties where law permits.
Shachi Sharma, Civil Judge(Senior Division)/secretary, District Legal Services Almora said, “We keep holding awareness campaigns regularly even in the remote areas of the district to sensitise masses regarding their rights, NALSA helpline number- 15100, various schemes of NALSA and Lok Adalats etc. for people’s benefits. Uttarakhand witnessed the highest improvement in the pending cases disposal rate of late in National Lok Adalat which was held on December 14 last year. The National Games had a huge footfall and the craze was palpable amongst all age groups so a stall was set up at the venue in Almora as well by us which was a grand success,” she said, while also appealing to the litigants and other citizens to derive maximum benefit from the upcoming National Lok Adalat on March 8.
Notably, Uttarakhand emerged as the top performing State in the category of pending cases in the 4th National Lok Adalat in December 2024 achieving the highest disposal rate of 99.73 per cent.
