Promotion of e-Lok Adalat

New Delhi, Aug 05, 2022 : Steps taken by Legal Services Authorities to promote e-Lok Adalats include - Standard Operating Procedure for conduct of e-Lok Adalat, Technical training through System officers to the Court Staff, Whatsapp groups for litigants, advocates and respondents for conveying them relevant information/ link for attending e-Lok Adalats and Video conferencing link and cause list displayed on the website of the District Courts.

Lok Adalat is not a permanent establishment and is organised at such intervals as felt required with a view to reduce pendency of cases in courts and settle disputes at pre-litigation stage. During the covid pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ingeniously integrated technology to move Lok Adalat on to the virtual platform, better known as e-Lok Adalats. Since e-Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously with regular Lok Adalats, benches are constituted on the basis of volume of cases referred by various courts or tribunals and institutions for pre-litigation cases. The first e-Lok Adalat was held in Madhya Pradesh on 27.06.2020.

The Lok Adalats are most effective mode of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in arresting the mounting arrears of the Courts including High Courts. 38.36 lakh pre-litigation cases and 8.34 lakh pending cases in Courts have been disposed of by e-Lok Adalats during June, 2020 to June, 2022.

This information was given by the Minister for Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.