The third National Lok Adalat for the year 2021 was held on Saturday at several places across Manipur, both in virtual and physical modes, organised by the Manipur State Legal Services Authority (MASLSA) in association with High Court Legal Services Committee and District Legal Services Authorities as per the calendar of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
National Lok Adalat for Imphal East and West district was jointly held at ADR Building, Lamphel Court Complex. The same was also held at Bishnupur, Thoubal, Ukhrul, Senapati, Churachandpur, Tamenglong, Jiribam, Tengnoupal and Chandel districts and in the High Court of Manipur.
In National Lok Adalat for Imphal East and Imphal West district organised by MASLSA, four benches were constituted. The Lok Adalat was conducted online through video conferencing except for some court cases where presences of the parties are required. The first bench comprised Judicial Member, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Th Saimon Singh as chairman and advocate Ch Nanda as member.
The second bench comprised District and Sessions Judge, Imphal East RK Memcha Devi as chairperson and advocate Ch Momon Singh as member. The third bench comprised retired District and Sessions Judge A Noutuneshwari Devi as chairperson and advocate B Supriya Devi as member. The fourth bench comprised Chief Judicial Magisrate, Imphal West Y Somorjit Singh as chairman and advocate Ch Bimolchandra as member.
The representatives of the bank and insurance companies and the parties were present during the online Lok Adalat.
During the National Lok Adalat, a total of 2,876 cases (both pending and pre-litigation cases) were referred from the various courts, legal aid clinics, consumer forums, tribunals, banks etc. However, only 392 cases were taken up on Saturday, of which 316 cases were settled with a total settlement amount of Rs. 3,28,40,731, resulting in a 80 per cent settlement and success rate.
In addition to the National Lok Adalats which will be held on December 11, MASLSA will be holding regular State Lok Adalats from time to time. The organisers appealed to all the general public, government departments, private institutions and other bodies to refer all their cases to Manipur State Legal Services Authority (MASLSA) or District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA) so that their disputes and cases can be settled amicably at free of cost through Lok Adalats.
As part of the nationwide National Lok Adalat, Churachandpur district also conducted the Lok Adalat on Saturday.
There were two benches, the bench-1 was presided by District Judge N Keertichand Singh who is also District and Sessions Judge cum Chairman, DLSA Churachandpur and advocate Songzamang Tombing along with president BAR Churachandpur Lalrinchhana Bawitlung as members.
As many as 30 Bank defaulters of SBI, UBI etc. and 25 PHE water bill defaulters cases were taken up from bench 1.
Meanwhile, six court pending cases from Canara Bank, 11 Matrimonial Disputes was disposed of and three other civil cases were taken up from Bench-2 presided over by Chief Judicial Magistrate cum Secretary District Legal Services Authority, Churachandpur (DLSA) Janggoulen Haokip and Advocate Grace Chiinhoihniang and Advocate Lhingneikim as members.
A total amount of Rs. 23,31,807 were settled in the said Lok Adalat from the bank and PHE water bill defaulters.
The event was organised by District Legal Services Authority DLSA Churachandpur in collaboration with Manipur State Legal Services Authority (MASLA).
It is to be noted that due to the pandemic, the conventional physical Lok Adalats have been now shifted to online Lok Adalats in which lok adalat is conducted in virtual mode by using simple video conferencing applications. Online Lok Adalats play an important role in resolving disputes without wasting much time and money and to ensure that access to justice continues during these challenging times.
