Ranchi/Jamshedpur: Jharkhand marked Legal Services Day on Thursday with legal service on your doorstep campaign as a part of a 100-day door-to-door awareness drive from across all 24 districts.
An initiative of National Legal Services Authority, its state counterpart Jhalsa and respective units of district legal services authority (DLSA) with inputs from acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court D.N. Patel, Vidhik Seva Aapke Dwar gives the masses, especially disadvantaged sections, free legal counselling.
For this, paralegals, NGO workers and human rights activists in vans will cover the length and breadth of respective districts to reach homes and tell people how to access legal institutions, rights, entitlements, and speedy and affordable justice through mediation centres, among others.
The campaign is especially aimed to help victims such as women, children, members of deprived classes including tribals, particularly vulnerable tribal groups, disabled and workers of small factories. Teams will also identify persons who need legal aid but can't approach courts due to poverty or disability, and file their details at the respective DLSA office for further action.
In capital Ranchi, the 100-day campaign was flagged off around 9.30am from civil courts premises in Kutchery by in-charge judicial commissioner-cum-chairman of DLSA Mahesh Chandra Verma in the presence of a panel of lawyers, remand advocates and paralegal volunteers, among others.
Verma said the campaign would help people get a better idea of free legal services available. He added that mobile teams would distribute pamphlets, brochures and booklets on the services of legal institutions among people.
In East Singhbhum, district labour judge L.P. Chaubey flagged off a van at noon from civil courts premises in the presence of principal judge (family court, Jamshedpur) Satya Prakash, city's bar association secretary Anil Kumar Tiwary and East Singhbhum DLSA secretary S.N. Sikdar.
Sikdar said three vans would carry paralegals in areas under Jamshedpur civil courts and one more to cater to the subdivision under Ghatshila court.
"We will inform the masses they would get free legal counselling and help from DLSA on giving an application. We will also ask people fighting longstanding consumer cases to go for mediation through lok adalats," he added.
On the significance of the day, Verma in Ranchi had said Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, came into force on November 9, 1995.
