Lakhs of litigants in the state get relief

 

Chennai: Lakhs of litigants in the state, who had been fighting their cases for years together from the taluk to the high court, got them settled on Saturday thr­ough the mega lok adalat conducted by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), as a part of a nationwide event.

 

Cases under different categories, including mo­tor accident claims, land related disputes, civil ca­ses and compoundable cr­i­­minal cases, were taken up in all the 32 districts in the state. According to Mr K. Arul, member secretary of TNSLSA, of the 15 lakh cases referred, 13.06 lakh cases involving an amount of Rs1,040 crore were disposed of.

 

Briefing newspersons, Justice R. Sudhakar, one of the 14 judges presiding over the Lok Adalat, said that the Supreme Court conducted the event as litigants were finding it difficult to pursue their cases. Chief Justice of India Justice P. Satha­sivam, who inaugurated the event, said that it had been successful. 

 

“It was an achievement in judicial history and it would be conducted periodically. The poor and do­wntrodden people co­uld make full use of the Lok Adalat to get relief,” he said.

He said as many as 1,370 cases pending before the Madras high court were taken up for hearing before 14 benches. Of the 1,370 cases, 233 were settled for an amount of Rs12 crore. In Madurai, 700 pending cases were taken up for hearing of which 80 cases were settled for an amount of Rs 3.5 crore. 

 

A long-pending case that was settled concerned  a lady, who met with an accident, claiming compensation. Her relatives brought her to the Lok Ad­­­alat and she was awa­rded '75 lakh as compensation. Another case bet­ween a private person and a bank was settled for Rs 8 crore, he added.

 

The mega lok adalat was organised upon the direction from the Chief Jus­tice of India and patron in chief, TN State Legal Services Aut­hority, Jus­tice P. Satha­sivam and executive chai­rman of NLSA, Jus­tice G.S. Singhvi.