A National Lok Adalat will be organised at Patna High Court on November 12 for speedy disposal of cases.
The cases to be taken up at the lok adalat - which will be held according to a directive of the National Legal Services Authority of India - shall be disposed of on the basis of compromise and will chiefly be of criminal compoundable cases (lesser criminal offence), matrimonial and family matters, labour disputes, land acquisition, railway claims, cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act (cheque bounce), debt recovery tribunal cases, bank recovery, sales tax, income tax, Forest Act cases, revenue cases, insurance policy, electricity and water matters and disaster compensation.
Kishore Prasad, joint registrar-cum-secretary, Patna High Court Legal Services Committee, said special focus would be on old cases, in these subject matters.
One could refer the compoundable matters to the high court either through paralegal volunteers, legal aid clinics or the district legal services authority. Those who have their cases pending in the courts and want an early disposal through the lok adalat can approach the legal services committee at the court through their lawyers, a notice issued by the high court has stated.
The idea of lok adalat is to lessen the burden of judiciary as more than a lakh cases are pending in Patna High Court for disposal.
"Increase in the number of pending cases is because of lack of time judges get to hear a particular case leading to adjournments," said Dinesh Kumar, a lawyer of Patna high court.
According to a survey conducted by a Bangalore-based research organisation, DAKSH, earlier this year, Patna High Court is one of the busiest high courts in the country with judges getting only two minutes on an average to hear a case, as judges hear around 150 cases everyday. The findings come from the "State of The Indian Judiciary" report released by DAKSH.
However, with the concept of the lok adalats being enforced, the reduction in pendency of cases averaged about 9 per cent across all the states, sources in National Legal Services Authority of India said.
