A Judicial Response on Implementaton of Legal Aid Laws in

India with Special Reference to the Contribution of Various

Committees

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
IMS UNSON UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

LL.M. (Master of Laws)

Submitted by: Supervised by:

ARJUN SIROHI Prof Mr. SHOAIB MOHAMMAD
Enrollment No :- IUU16LLM009
Student Id :- 1000002662

1
 DECLARATION

I, Arjun Sirohi, a student of LL.M. of IMS Unison University with Enrollment

No. IUU16LLM009 and Student Id. 1000002662, do hereby declare that this
dissertation paper is an original work of mine and is result of my own
intellectual efforts. I have quoted titles of all original sources i.e. original
documents and name of the authors whose work has helped me in writing this
research paper have been placed at appropriate places. I have not infringed copy
rights of any other author.

Date:- 02/05/17 ARJUN SIROHI

Place:- Dehradun

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that dissertation entitled “ A Judicial Response on

Implementaton of Legal Aid Laws in India with Special Reference to the
Contribution of Various Committees“ which is being submitted by Mr. Arjun
Sirohi for the award of the degree of Master of Laws is an independent and
original research work carried out by her.

The dissertation is worthy of consideration for the award of LL.M. Degree of

IMS Unison University.

Mr. Arjun Sirohi has worked under my guidance and supervision to fulfill all
requirements for the submission of this dissertation.
The conduct of research scholar remained excellent during the period of
research.

Date:- 02/05/17 Prof. Mr. Shoaib Mohammad

Place:- Dehradun

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel proud to acknowledge the able guidance of our esteemed Mr. Shoaib
Mohammad I acknowledge with pleasure unparallel infrastructural support that
I have received from IMS Unison University. In fact this work is the outcome of
outstanding support that I have received from the faculty members of the
college.
I find this opportunity to thank the library staff of the IMS Unison University.
This research work bears testimony to the active encouragement and guidance
of a host of friends and well wishers.
I am greatly indebted to the various writers, jurists and all others from whose
writings and work I have taken help to complete this dissertation.

Date:- 02/05/17 ARJUN SIROHI

Place:- Dehradun

4
 LIST OF CASES

 Abdul Hasan and National Legal Services Authority vs. Delhi

Vidyut Board AIR 1999 Delhi 88=1999 (77) DLT 640=1999 (2) AD
(Del) 105=1999 (2) RCR (Civil) 291
 Ahmed Pasha vs. C. Gulnaz Jabeen AIR 2001 Karnataka 412
 Allahabad Ladies Club vs. Jitendra Nath Singh 2007 (4) SCALE
541
 Amankumar Lalitbhai Parekh vs. Pritiben Amankumar Parekh
2000 (2) F.J.C.C. 356 (Guj)
 Anar Devi vs. Chandra Devi AIR 2005 Rajasthan 270
 Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation vs. M/s. GAR Re-
Rolling Mills AIR 1994 SC 2151
 Ashok Kumar Kantilal Rathod vs. Bhavanaben Ashokkumar
Rathod 2001 (2) R.C.R.(Civil) 47 (Guj)
 Bajiban Salambhai Chauhan vs. Uttar Pradesh State Road
Transport Corporation 1990 (33) SCC 769
 Centre of Legal Research vs. State of Kerala AIR 1986 SC 1322
 D. K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal (1997) 1 SCC 416
 Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee vs. Govt. of NCT of
Delhi 2009 (163) DLT 56= 2009 X AD (Delhi) 166
 Delhi Science Forum vs. Union of India AIR 1996 SC 1356
 Dr. Duryodhan Sahu and ors. vs. Jitender Kumar Mishra 1998 (4)
SCALE 643
 Fertilizer Corporation Kamgar Union vs. Union of India AIR 1981
SC 344=1981 (1) SCC 468
 Holicow Pictures Pvt. Ltd. vs. Prem Chandra Mishra 2007 (14)
SCALE 10

5
 Hussainara Khatoon vs. State of Bihar (1980) 1 SCC 89=AIR 1979
SC 1369
 Hussainara Khatoon (IV) vs. Home Secretary (1980) 1 SCC
89=AIR 1979 SC 1369
 Janta Dal vs. H.S. Choudhary 1992 (4) SCC 305
 K.R. Srinivas vs. P.M. Premchand 1994 (6) SCC 620
 Kaltyan Sanstha vs. Union of India Writ Petition no. 4582/2003
and others connected writs
 Khatri vs. State of Bihar, AIR 1981 SC 926
 Kishore Chand vs. State of Himachal Pradesh AIR 1990 SC 2140
 M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India 1996 (4) SCC 351
 M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India AIR 2001 SC 1948=2001(2) SCR
698
 M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India 2001 (9) SCC 235 and AIR 2004
SC 800
 M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India AIR 2006 SC 1325=2006 (2) SCR
264
 M.H. Hoskot vs. State of Maharashtra AIR 1978 SC 1548
 National Council for Civil Liberties vs. Union of India (2007) 6
SCC 506
 Menaka Gandhi vs. Union of India (1978) 1 SCC 248=(1978) 2
SCR 621=AIR 1978 SC 597
 Milkmen Colony Vikas Samiti vs. State of Rajasthan (2007) 2 SCC
413
 Neetu vs. State of Punjab 2007 (1) SCALE 168
 Nihal Singh vs. State of Punjab 2000 Crl. L. J. 3298
 Parmanand Katara vs. Union of India AIR 1989 SC 2039
 Prakash Singh vs. Union of India (2006) 8 SCC 1

6
 Pramod Kumar and Another vs. Bihar Vyavasayik Sangharsh
Morcha (2007) 7 SCC 659
 People's Union for Democratic Rights vs. Union of India, AIR
1982 SC 1473
 R v. Liverpool Corporation, ex parte Liverpool Taxi Fleet
Operators’ Association, [1972] 2 QB 299, 308-9 (Lord Denning
MR) 1 WLR 550, 558-9, 564, 567.
 R v. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, ex parte Blackburn
(No. 1) [1968] 2 QB 118
 Ramjas Foundation vs. Union of India AIR 1993 SC 852
 S.N. Pandey vs. Union of India Writ Petition (Civil No. 543/2002)
decided on 28-10-2002
 Sheela Bharse vs. State of Maharashtra AIR 1983 SC 378
 State of Maharashtra vs. Prabha 1994 (2) SCC 48
 Suk Das vs. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh AIR 1986 SC
991
 Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee vs. Union of India 1998 (5)
SCC 762=1998 (2) SCALE 79
 Supreme Court Legal Services Committee vs. Union of India AIR
1998 SC 2940
 Surgeev v. Sushila Bai, AIR 2003 Rajasthan 149
 Sushanta Tagore vs. Union of India AIR 2005 SC 1975
 T.N. Godavarman vs. Union of India AIR 1998 SC 2553
 Udyami Evan Khadi Gramodog Welfare Sanstha vs. State of U.P.
2007(13) SCALE 686
 Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997) 6 SCC 241=1997 AIR SCW
3043=AIR 1997 SC 3011
 Vishwanath Chaturvedi vs. Union of India 2007 (3) SCALE 714

7
 BOOKS, ACTS, JOURNALS, MAGAZINES,
REPORTS AND WEBSITES CONSULTED

 Law, Poverty and Legal Aid--book written by Justice S. Muralidhar,

Judge, Delhi High Court
 Code of Criminal Procedure
 Constitution of India
 Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
 All India Reporter
 Apex Decisions
 Recent Civil Reports
 Supreme Court Cases
 Supreme Court Reports
 Law Commission of India- 14th Report
 P.N. Bhagwati’ Report, 1971
 Krishna Iyer’s Report, 1973
 Juridicare Committee’s Report, 1977
 Report of High Powered Committee For Implementing Legal Aid
Schemes, 1980
 www.clasp.org
 www.dlsa.nic.in
 www.en.wikipedia.org
 www.faculty.law.ubc.ca
 www.hrsolidarity.net
 www.hslsa.nic.in

8
 www.laoc.org
 www.legal service India.com
 www.nalsa.nic.in
 www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in
 www.upslsa.up.nic.in
 www.wikipedia.org

9
 ABBREVIATIONS

 CILAS----------------Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes

 DLSA-----------------Delhi Legal Services Authority
 HALSA---------------Haryana State Legal Services Authority
 LAC-------------------Legal Aid Commission
 LAO-------------------Legal Aid Ontario
 LSC -------------------Legal Services Corporation
 Legal Aid Act--------Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
 OEO------------------ Office of Economic Opportunity
 NALSA---------------National Legal Services Authority
 PIL---------------------Public Interest Litigation

10
 CONTENTS
Chapter Topic Page
No. no.
1 INTRODUCTION

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Problem
 Rationale
 Objectives of study
 Hypothesis
 Review of literature
 Concept and variables
 Research design
 Chapterisation
 Possible contribution to legal field
 Limitation of the study

3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LEGAL

AID
 Law Commission Report (1958)
 P.N. Bhagwati Committee report (1971)
 Krishna Iyer Committee report (1973)
 Juridicare Committee report (1977)
 Committee for implementing legal aid
scheme
 Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
 Salient features of legal aid
 Philosophy behind legal aid
 Legal aid-a contemporary look

4 ROLE OF PUBLIC INTEREST

11
 LITIGATION IN LEGAL AID SERVICES
I. Importance in legal aid movement
II. A tool to access to justice
III. A conceptual background
IV. Essentials
V. Reliefs
VI. Pitfalls
VII. Instances where PIL were filed by
legal services authorities/committees for
benefit of public at large

5 LEGAL AID—INTERNATIONAL AND

NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
(A) Implementation of legal aid services in different
countries
1) Legal aid in United States of America
2) Legal aid in England
3) Legal aid in Canada
4) Legal aid in China
5) Legal aid in Australia
(B) Mandate of Legal Services Authorities Act in India
 Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority
 Haryana State Legal Services Authority
 Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority
 Karnataka State Legal Services Authority
 Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority
 Delhi State Legal Services Authority

6 LEGAL AID SERVICES:CONTEMPORARY

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
12
 1) Responsibility of the Legal Services
Authorities
2) Accountability of other authorities towards
Legal Services Authorities
3) Role of NGOs
4) Role of judiciary and Legal Services
Authorities in developing conciliatory forum
5) Judicial hunch
6) Lok Adalat and its statutory recognition
7) Practical difficulties being faced by lok
Adalats
(i) Reluctance of litigants
(ii) Reluctance of advocates
(iii) Reluctance of judges
(iv) Reluctance of government

8) Alternative Dispute Resolution methods to

resolve disputes
(i) Alternative dispute resolution mechanism
(ii) Important characteristics of ADR
(iii) Relevance of ADR in contemporary
judicial system
(iv) ADR systems for urban litigation
(v) What advantages does ADR have over the
normal judicial process
(vi) Need for ADR in Indian judiciary
9) Solution of drawbacks

7 IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGAL AID

SERVICES
13
 (A) Implementation of legal aid services in India
1) Legal aid movement and its statutory recognition
2) Constitution and functions of Central Authority
3) Nature of functions and duties performed by LSA
4) Constitution and function of State Legal Services
Authorities
5) Forum of settlement of disputes/cases

8 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

14
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Inability to consult, engage or represented by a lawyer during any kind of legal proceedings
in courts, government offices, authorities and departments etc. for defending or prosecuting a
person's legal rights and obligations may amount to the same thing as being deprived of the
security and equal protection of the laws. Each one should have an equal right to the most
extensive system of basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberties for all. One
need not be a litigant in the court to seek aid by means of legal aid. Legal aid or help should
be available to anybody on the road, workplace and even in his house.
Due to a multitude of factors such like illiteracy, destitution, absence of knowledge of
rights and corruption heading the list, disadvantaged groups remain largely invisible to the
formal legal system and therefore, continue to suffer the substantive inequalities that plague
their lives.
The Indian Constitution has put in place a legal system which endeavours to protect the
rights of everyone. However, one must realize that existence of rules and regulations and law
is one thing and its implementation is another.
As per the Preamble of the Constitution, the people of India have given themselves a
Constitution which constitutes India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic which
secures to all its citizens justice—social, economic and political, liberty of thought,
expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote
among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of
the nation.
The Constitution has defined and declared the common goal for its citizens in its
Preamble. The eternal value of constitutionalism is the rule of law which has three facets, i.e.,
rule by law, rule under law and rule according to law. Under Constitution, it is the primary
responsibility of the state to maintain law and order so that the citizens can enjoy peace and
security.
In the context of constitutional demands and state obligations, legal aid has assumed a
more positive and dynamic role which must include strategic and preventive services.
Relieving ‘legal poverty’, i.e., the incapacity of many people to make full use of law and its

15
institutions has now been accepted as a function of a ‘welfare state.’ Apart from the social,
economic and political requirements on which the claim of legal aid rests, it is now
recognized as a constitutional imperative arising under articles 14 1, 212, 22(1)3 and 39A4 of
the Constitution as well as under different statutes and legislations which also derives their
powers from the constitution. The Constitution guarantees ‘Right to Constitutional Remedies’
as a fundamental right.
The system as guaranteed above under Constitution w.e.f. 26 January, 1950 worked
satisfactorily in the initial years. However, with the rapid growth and boom in population
over the years, it was being felt that the justice delivery mechanism of the Indian society and
Indian polity was costly for the poor, the laws a little too complex for the illiterate to
understand and the procedure is as slow to bring about instant relief.
Article 39A of the Constitution provides that the state shall secure that the operation
of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity and shall, in particular,
provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other
disabilities. The importance of good, competent and effective legal aid is often overlooked
by everybody until a serious need for legal counsel or representation arises. The reasons why
people need legal aid can vary as widely as the individuals themselves. Some people need
legal representation for civil suits, either as the claimant or defendant. Some people may need
aid dealing with divorce, domestic violence charge, involvement in criminal offenses etc.
Many people take services of lawyers for help in writing wills, documents of different nature
as well as before signing business contracts. The needs and requirements of legal help and
stage when it is needed, in the sphere of life cannot be counted being endless. Whatever the
need for legal aid, it is certain to be an important issue and one in which there is no room for
mistakes.

1
Equality before law—The State shall not deny to any person equality before law or the equal protection of
the laws within the territory of India.
2
Protection of life and personal liberty—No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to the procedure established by law.
3
Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases----(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained
in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied
the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice.
4
Equal justice and free legal aid—The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes
justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation
or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen
by reason of economic or other disabilities.

16
 The government provides free legal aid to the needy. Legal aid implies giving free legal
services to the poor and needy who cannot afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of a
case or a legal proceeding in any court, tribunal or before any authority. However, in a country
of continental dimensions and with population more than a billion, it becomes very difficult to
provide free legal aid to everyone.
The idea of legal aid originated in medieval period. The legal aid, however, was
considered to be hybrid in some form of political right or charity from rich to the poor
initially. In the fast changing socio-economic conditions, this view was found not acceptable.
In the modern society, legal aid cannot be placed on the lower side. If the law has to play, a
purposeful and significant role in a democratic order for the socio-economic reconstruction of
the society, legal aid must give meaningful and substantive education to the poor about the
law and their rights and provide solution to their legal problems.
Article 14(3) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
1966 guarantees to everyone, “the right to have legal assistance assigned to him in case where
the interest of justice shall require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does
not have sufficient means to pay for it”.
The government of India started addressing the question of providing free legal aid to
the poor, weaker sex, disadvantaged groups and down trodden persons etc. since 1952. The
Fourteenth Report of the Law Commission of year 1958 also echoes this concept:
Equality is the basis of all modern systems of jurisprudence and
administration of justice. In so far as a person is unable to obtain
access to a court of law for having his wrongs redressed or for
defending himself against a criminal charge, justice becomes
unequal and laws which are meant for his protection have no
meaning and to that extent fail in their purpose. Unless some
provision is made for assisting the poor man for the payment of
court fees and lawyer’s fees and other incidental costs of
litigation, he is denied equality in the opportunity to seek justice.

To achieve the constitutional goal of ‘equal justice to all,’ a new directive contained in
article 39A, has been inserted to enjoin the state to provide free legal aid to the poor and
particular categories and to take other suitable steps to ensure equal justice to all. 5 In 1980,

5
Article 39A of the Constitution of India inserted by Constitution 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 w.e.f.
03.01.1977

17
Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS) was constituted to oversee,
supervise, monitor and implement legal aid programs on a uniform basis throughout the
country. The Committee evolved a model scheme and after removing certain deficiencies, it
was desired to constitute statutory legal authorities from national level to village level. In
1987, to fulfill the constitutional obligation and to give a statutory base to legal aid programs,
Legal Services Authority Act was enacted which came into force with effect from 9
November 1995.
The Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 (hereinafter referred as ‘Legal Aid Act’), was
enacted to effectuate the constitutional mandate enshrined under Articles 14 and 39A of the
Constitution. The object is to provide ‘access to justice for all’ so that justice is not denied to
citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities. However, in order to enable the citizens
to avail the opportunities under the Act in respect of grant of free legal aid etc, it is necessary
that firstly they are made aware of their rights. Legal aid is an essential part of the
administration of justice and must be so implemented.

Section 2(c) of Legal Aid Act defines legal service which includes the rendering of any
service in the conduct of any case or other legal proceeding before any court or other
authority or tribunal and the giving of advice on any legal matter. The definition of ‘legal
service’ under this Act is not restricted but is inclusive. It may include number of things
which could not have been anticipated by the Parliament at the time of passing the Act
pertaining to enforcement of legal rights and obligations. Court means a civil, criminal or
revenue court and includes any tribunal or any other authority constituted under any law for
the time being in force, to exercise judicial or quasi judicial function as described under
section 2(aaa) of the Legal Aid Act.

Indian Judiciary in the past six decades has done a remarkable job of protecting citizens’
rights, liberty, dignity and rule of law against all obnoxious odds by controlling the abuse of
administrative discretions and arbitrary actions.

18
The administration equipped with rule-making powers overwhelms the “little man” by
trampling upon his liberty and property. The judiciary has been instrumental in channelising
the unbridled administrative powers to achieve the basic aim of any civilized society, “growth
with liberty”. There are also certain legislations which were challenged on constitutional
scale and were subsequently struck down by courts partly or wholly. It is a privilege to the
Indian people that the judicial review and scrutiny available under articles 32 6, 2267 and 1368
can not be barred and fettered by any finality clause contained in any statute. Indian courts
are full of admirers who respect their ingenuity and integrity. Among the three organs of the
government, people repose more faith in judiciary. In Fertilizer Corporation Kamgar Union
v. Union of India9, Justice Krishna Iyer had rightly observed, “But when corruption permeates
6
Remedies for enforcement of rights conferred by this Part—(1) The right to move the Supreme Court by
appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed.
(2) The Supreme Court shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs including writs in the nature
of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for
the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part.
(3) Without prejudice to the powers conferred on the Supreme Court by clauses (1) and (2), Parliament my
by law empower any other court to exercise within the limits of its jurisdiction all or any of the powers
exercisable by the Supreme Court under clause (2).
(4) The right guaranteed by this article shall not be suspended except as otherwise provided for by this
Constitution.
7
Power of High Court to issue certain writs—(1) Notwithstanding anything in article 32, every High Court
shall have powers, throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, to issue to any
person or authority, including in appropriate cases, any Government, within those territories directions,
orders or writs, including (writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and
certiorari, or any of them, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by Part-III and for any other
purpose)
(2) The power conferred by clause (1) to issue directions, orders or writs to any Government, authority or
person may also be exercised by any High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to the territories within
which the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises for the exercise of such power, notwithstanding that the
seat of such Government or the authority or the residence of such person is not within those territories.
(3) Where any party against whom an interim order, whether by way of injunction or stay or in any other
manner, is made on, or in any proceedings relating to, a petition under clause (1), without—
(a) furnishing to such party copies of such petition and all documents in support of the plea for such interim
order; and
(b) giving such party an opportunity of being heard makes an application to the High Court for the vacation
of such order and furnishes a copy of such application to the party in whose favour such order has been
made or the counsel of such party, the High Court shall dispose of the application within a period of two
weeks from the date on which it is received or from the date on which the copy of such application is so
furnished, whichever is later, or where the High Court is closed on the last day of that period, before the
expiry of the next day afterwards on which the High Court is open; and if the application is not so disposed
of, the interim order shall, on the expiry of that period, or, as the case may be, the expiry of the said next day,
stand vacated.
(4) The power conferred on a High Court by this article shall not be in derogation of the power conferred on
the Supreme Court by clause (2) of article 32.
8
Special Leave to appeal by the Supreme Court—(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the
Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree,
determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the
territory of India.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by
any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces.
9
AIR 1981 SC 344.

19
the entire fabric of the government, legality is the first casualty.”
The administration equipped with tremendous powers of rule-making in the form of
Rules, Regulations, Orders, Bye-Laws, Direction and Schemes mostly indulge in improper
exercise of discretion adversely affecting the common man and inviting judicial review.
Today the state is seen everywhere fighting the citizens like a ‘cantankerous litigant’.
In early eighties, the Supreme Court adopted a pro-active approach by developing
Social Action Litigation (SAL) or Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for which major credit goes
to Justice P. N. Bhagwati, who lateron become the Chief Justice of India.
There is no dearth of citations where the courts provided solace and relief to the
masses by entertaining direct PIL and even by accepting letters, newspaper reports as well as
by considering even anonymous complaints and intimations. Lot of criticism sometimes took
place especially in the field of legislature and executive for interfering in their powers,
discretion and authorities by the judiciary but actually it was not so. The allegation of ‘over
stepping’ are not correct because the courts are simply passing directions to the paralyzed
arms of the government to implement the law of land as they fail miserably in their duty to
perform.
Ask a common man about the various important orders, directions and writs passed
by Supreme Court and High Courts which benefits people at large and they will also put the
judiciary in high esteem and will praise it while criticizing other functionaries of state. People
have faith in the judiciary and prefer to approach court of law for redressal of their grievances
but due to their incapability, lack of funds and legal knowledge suffers with no fault of their.
That was the reason that need of providing free legal aid and services arose to the needy and
particular categories of people in the society. At present, free legal aid or services is not only
a statutory but also a fundamental right, as per the judgment of the Supreme Court in
Hussainara khatoon v. State of Bihar.10
Sensitization of judicial officers in regard to legal aid schemes and programmes is also
a big agenda in Indian Judiciary. Mr. Justice S.P. Bharucha, had observed that not all judicial
officers in the country are duly sensitized to legal services schemes and programmes and as
such are unable to guide poor litigants in this regard. He directed that Legal Services
Authorities must ensure that judicial officers are duly sensitized about the work which
National Legal Services Authority is doing and its importance for the poor and illiterates.11

10
(1980) 1 SCC 89: AIR 1979 SC 1369

11
Judge Supreme Court and Executive Chairman, National Legal Services Authority while writing from the

20
 In the Chief Justices' Conference held at New Delhi in 2006 a resolution was passed to
say that in the service records of the judicial officers, their interest in legal aid programmes
should be reflected and all the High Courts should take steps for sensitizing the judicial
officers in regard to legal aid programmes and schemes. Once all the judicial officers in the
country get properly sensitized in regard to the relevance and importance of legal aid
schemes, they shall themselves start caring for the poor, backward and weaker sections of the
society who are not in a position to engage their own counsel and look after their legal
causes.
India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. 12 Socialism is not a code of
belief but is a philosophy of life. To bring cheer to everyone, to make everyone feel safe and
to wipe tears from each eye is the ultimate object of every welfare state. Indian Constitution,
therefore, has put in place a legal system which endeavors to protect the rights of everyone.
The justice which is social, economic and political and which must be secured to all
its citizens is one of the basic backbones of Constitution. The securing of such justice pre
supposes that there is an equality of opportunity as well as availability of equal access to all
concerned so that state can achieve goal of social, economic and political justice. One must
also realize that existence of rules, regulations and law is one thing and its implementation is
another.
Over the years, however, it is being felt that the judicial system is little costly,
complex for the illiterate to understand and the procedure is slow to bring instant relief. To
supplement the justice delivery system, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted after a
high powered Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS) constituted by
Central Government in the year 1980 worked out a comprehensive legal aid programme on
uniform basis throughout the country providing a four-tier legal aid programme at National,
State, District and Taluk levels. Under this Act, the NALSA was set up as Central Authority at
the apex. Since then, different legal services authorities and committees have been set up at
States and Union Territories levels, District levels as well as Taluk levels all over the country
at the moment.
The Delhi Chapter under the Legal Aid Act was formed in 1996 as Delhi Legal
Services Authority and has since then come a long way in making access to justice faster,
cheaper, reliable and more meaningful.
Different functions to be performed by the Central and State Authorities as well as
Desk of the Executive Chairman in January, 1999 issue of 'Nyaya Deep' magazine
12
Preamble of Constitution of India.

21
District and Taluk Legal Services Committee have been discussed in detail in following
chapters but one thing common in all is that proper care has been taken to provide legal
services free of costs to those who falls in different categories of entitled persons. These
categories as prescribed in section 12 of the Act almost covers those persons who due to
poverty, backwardness, weakness, victims of circumstances and suffering from different
calamities etc. are unable to protect their legal and constitutional rights in the court of law.

CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Problem
In the year 1977, the Constitution was amended to fasten a liability on ruling
politicians to provide a system of free legal aid. This was to ensure that opportunities for
securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability. The
politicians washed their hands of this liability by enacting the Legal Aid Act. The entire task
was passed on to judges from the apex court to the district court. It was bankrolled by funding
from the union government.
The Act gave a charter by which judges have to discharge functions having nothing to
do with their constitutional duties of judging and administering their own respective courts.
The charter is so wide that it has made the judges the cutting edge of the fight against
corruption in the development process that affects the lives of millions and at the same time
illegally funds our politicians but that has not happened and there seems to be little chance of
that happening. Instead, like the ruling politicians, judges-run legal aid is not open to public
scrutiny with regard to utilization of its own funds.
The problems in utilization of legal benefits by disadvantaged groups depended on the
levels of legal awareness and availability of legal services to that particular group and that a
variety of historical, sociological, and economic constraints limited the scope of access to
legal services to such groups.
Due to a multitude of factors with illiteracy, destitution, and corruption heading the
list, disadvantaged groups remain largely invisible to the formal legal system and therefore
continue to suffer the substantive inequalities that plague their lives.

22
 It is evident that the right to legal aid is an enforceable right in Indian jurisprudence
and at least in theory, has appropriate schemes and means of implementation. However, one
of the most crucial deficiencies which emerge in the current scenario is that of the role played
by the lawyer. Quality lawyer is the need of the hour but is unfortunately not always
available. The brightest minds in the profession are often unavailable to devote time and
effort to legal aid because of the low remuneration involved. It is pertinent to note though,
that while counsels appointed for the state are paid a much higher fee, counsels appearing in
legal aid matters clearly do not receive the same.
There is inadequate awareness both regarding the substantive legal provisions (the
rights guaranteed to persons) as well as regarding the legal institutions which can render
necessary help to them for enforcement of these rights. The poor and the deprived people
often remain so and are unable to seek redress simply because they are not at all aware of the
rights guaranteed to them and the remedies that are available and which forum is to be
approached. This problem is further enhanced by the fact that those who require the help of
the laws, mostly are unable to understand the same merely because of language barrier.
The language of the legal system in India is mostly English. How then can one expect
those who are unable to understand or speak this language, to be aware of the rights they
have? This is why special additional efforts must be made to increase awareness amongst
such deprived class. The Legal Aid Act has already emphasized the need to increase
awareness amongst people. In addition, assistance of organizations that work at the grassroots
level should be taken by not only the courts but by other institutions as well. Further, the
effort must not end at only making good laws for the weaker sections of society – it must
continue until news of it reaches the ones it is meant to help. The reasons for not reaching the
news are due to—

 Lack of coordination between the enforcing agencies.

 Lack of awareness about the existence of such authorities.
 Lack of funds
 One of the problem areas that have always held out as the sore thumb is lack of funds.
The declaration of legal service as an assurance owed to each citizen by the state
should by itself be sufficient to discard as invalid the excuse of financial crunch. The
legal aid clinics involving law students, law teachers and others have not evinced
proper interest of the prospective consumers of such apparatus for several other

23
 factors as well. The active & meaningful participation by the lawyers can achieve the
additional purpose of commanding the confidence of both sides to a given dispute
thereby ensuring their cooperation. Further, the engagement of young law students in
legal aid clinics or legal literacy campaigns is bound to bring fruitful results. Young
lawyers and young law students would also stand to gain by getting the opportunity to
examine the legal concepts juxtaposed against real life problems. They would also get
opportunity to have first hand experience of seeing the plight of those receiving the
wrong end of the law or its action. In the process, they are bound to get proper
orientation for dealing with issues of social and economic justice and get inculcated in
the ethos of peace, harmony and common welfare shifting their mindset from
adversarial system of justice to one craving for amicable settlement through mediation
or conciliation. The big challenge for the judiciary is to act to the realization that there
is little value in a progressive judicial will that despite being decisive is not
prevailing.

Rationale
In every society there is a wide gap between the people and the justice delivery system. The
need of the hour is to attach importance on causes of the poor and down trodden. Legal
Assistance is a necessary sine qua non for justice and where it is not provided injustice is
likely to result. To achieve the constitutional goal of equal justice to all, a new directive,
Article 39A has been inserted in 1976 to enjoin the state to provide free legal aid to the poor
and to take other suitable steps to ensure equal justice to all. In 1987 to fulfill the
constitutional obligation and to give a statutory base to legal aid programs, Legal Aid Act was
enacted. This Act was finally enforced on 9 November 1995.
Under Legal Aid Act, free legal services are being provided which includes the
rendering of any service in the conduct of any case or other legal proceeding before any court
or other authority or tribunal and the giving of advice on any legal matter. Court means a
civil, criminal or revenue court.
Legal services under the Act are effective only in limited jurisdiction and it is
practically not available in revenue courts. In most of the cases studied for this report legal
aid is provided and further all persons in villages are not aware of the provision of legal aid.
In spite of statutory and constitutional provisions guaranteeing free legal services to
the poor and needy, access to justice still remained as a dream for millions of Indians. The

24
realization and enforcement of the right to legal aid is still a challenge.

Objectives of Study
The objectives of study are as follows:—

 To understand and study the significance of legal aid services.

 To study historical and philosophical background of legal aid.
 To study and analise the contemporary look of legal aid.
 To highlight the important role played by the judiciary under the system of public
interest litigation (PIL)
 To analise the legal aid services in national prospective.
 To examine and access the responsibility and accountability of concerned authorities.
 To analise the pendency in justice and its disposal.
 To search empirically the implementation of legal aid services in Delhi .
 To suggest important measures to improve the existing position of legal aid services

Hypothesis
The main aim of this research is to find out whether the legal aid services are properly
delivered to the needy and poor persons or not? The Legal Services Authorities Act which is
nicknamed as Legal Aid Act prescribe the list of persons who are eligible to seek and avail
legal aid and have to be given mandatory legal aid and services unless they knowingly and
intentionally refuse to take the same despite knowing the consequences of non availing of the
same. It is bounded duty of every quasi judicial authority as well as court that there should
not be any unrepresented needy person.
After studying the work, function and performance of various Legal Services
Authorities as well legal aid service providers especially in Delhi state, it is found that the
intention of the legislature behind framing the Legal Aid Act has been fulfilled to a great
extent though some more things still can be done. The legal aid is required to reach to all the
needy, downtrodden and poor persons in every hook and corner of the country including of
remote areas and this can happen only when extensive awareness programmes are organized
and conducted in every village, slum areas and remote corner of every district. While
conducting research in respect of activities of the Delhi Legal Services Authority, it is found

25
that this authority has involved various innovative ideas such as use of mobile van, 24 x 7
legal aid clinic, telephone helpline, continuous lok adalats, mega lok adalat etc. for providing
legal services and for creating awareness about the rights of the people and facilities and
schemes available of them as well as for quick disposal of the pending cases and at pre-
litigative matters and that those ideas should be also adopted in other states.
While conducting research, it is also found that if some more actions are done at
different levels as suggested at the end of the thesis, then the spirit behind the framing of the
Legal Aid Act can be also fulfilled upto maximum and can achieve its upper heights. I have
also come to the tentative conclusion after completing my research that my perception that
legal aid and service is being reached to majority of needy and poor persons especially in
Delhi state is correct.

Review of literature
During this research, number of books, magazines, articles, reports and material
available on websites are consulted. Numbers of judgments delivered by Supreme Court as
well as various High Courts have been gone through by consulting law journals which have
direct bearing and effect upon this topic. The relevant and material data and information has
been incorporated at the appropriate place and level.
The personal experience gained by me while working as member secretary of Delhi
Legal Services Authority for about four years has provided much help to me to conclude this
thesis to its conclusion end. The book ‘Law, Poverty and Legal Aid’ written by Justice S.
Muralidhar, Judge, Delhi High Court has provided much help and material in completing this
thesis.
The magazines ‘Nyaya Deep’ published by NALSA and ‘Nyaya Kiran’ published by
Delhi Legal Services Authority along with various annual reports and some other magazines
published by different state authorities were also very helpful in providing lot of data and
information about activities and steps taken for implementing the various provisions of Legal
Aid Act.
The websites of different departments and legal aid institutions in different countries
which have been referred to at the relevant places in the thesis when compared with the
activities and functions of the legal aid providers in India leads to the inference that in our
country the work of providing legal aid and services to poor and needy persons is much better
then in any other country is done here.

26
Concepts and variables
Legal aid simply does not include the providing of services of an advocate to poor
persons in various litigations but it also includes payment of every expense required while
conducting the case in court as well as court fees. Legal aid also can be provided to the needy
persons even in those disputes which are at pre-litigative stage. The holding of lok adalats of
pending and pre-litigative stage in order to provide quick and cheap justice to the parties and
to reduce the burden of the courts is also a major duty of every state legal authority. The
holding of permanent and continuous lok adalats in various fields and public utility services
is also a major step towards achieving the targets as set up in the Legal Aid Act. Central and
state legal aid authorities are also empowered to institute, interfere and pursue the public
interest litigations which effects public at large and are raising important issues of public
importance.

Research design
(i) Nature of study—The research is doctrinal and empirical in nature.
(ii) Collection of data—The relevant data disclosed and relied upon in various chapters of
the thesis has been collected from various official magazines, reports and study material
published by the different legal services authorities as well as from the official websites of
different governmental and non governmental offices and agencies. Reference of such source
has been mentioned at the relevant place of the thesis. Some private articles have also been
referred to in order to support certain issues relating to the research work. Various journals
such as All India Reporter, SCALE, Supreme Court Cases etc. containing important decisions
pronounced by Supreme Court and various High Courts have been consulted and in this
regard library of Indian Law Institute, Delhi High Court and District court was visited. The
software CD containing the decisions of various courts published by AIR and Law Finder
was also searched. Since the study mainly concentrated surrounding the functions and
activities of the Delhi Legal Services Authority, so besides taking important facts, figures and
data from the office of this authority as well as from its quarterly magazine ‘Nayaya Kiran’,
Annual Reports and official website, the personal knowledge and experience has also
contributed much in completing this work.
(iii) Universe and sampling designing.—The data relating to referred and decided cases in
lok adalats in respect of pending and pre-litigations have been taken and got verified

27
personally by checking about two hundred files from the office of Delhi Legal Services
Authority on random basis out of approximately 4,000 files for the period of 2005 till March,
2008 and tallied with the information and data maintained by the office of state authority and
found correct. The files pertaining to recovery matters, criminal compoundable cases, motor
accident cases pending in the courts as well as Jalad Rahat Yojna (JRY) cases, rent disputes
etc. were gone through. The case files of pending and disposed off in permanent Lok Adalats
of electricity and DDA matters were also checked up.
The number of beneficiaries who were provided legal aid for conducting cases in courts as
well as persons who were simply given advise and in respect of which conciliations
proceedings were done has been calculated by visiting various legal aid centers including
situated in Tihar Jail, office of central authority situated in Patiala House court complex and
various committees situated in different court complex as well as doing search work in 24
hours legal aid clinic.
The reports regarding various seminars, functions and programmes organized are
mainly correct and authenticated as being member secretary of the Delhi state authority for
the period of more than three years from 2005 to March, 2008 the same were held and
organized under the direct supervision and my control. However only the details of important
functions and programmes has been given. The universal sampling of data maintained by
different authorities, institutions and offices is based for this research but by taking random
samples of the same and getting the same authenticated and verifying, an average
achievements can be taken note of it to find out what was the actual achievements of the state
authority per year on an average. The analyze can be described in brief in the following table.

Nature Universe Sample

Period (approx) Size
(approx)
2005 to Cases disposed off in lok adalat 4000 200
July,2010
2005 to March, Seminar/conferences/workshops 100 90
2008
2005 to March, Legal aid provided to poor, jail 2,500 800
2008 inmates/conciliation proceedings
done/advises given

28
Chapterisation
The present thesis has been divided into eight main chapters and in some chapters, sub topics
have been given. The first chapter relates to the basic introduction about need of legal aid by
different persons and obligation of the state to provide legal aid to the needy and eligible
person has been discussed. Access to justice and equal protection of law is not only the
fundamental right of every citizen but it is the duty of the state to provide free legal aid to
needy and poor person which has been included in the directive principles of the state
enshrined in Article 39A of the Constitution of India. The availability of free legal aid is not
only limited to ordinary courts but it covers every tribunal, authority or office performing
quasi judicial functions. To supplement the justice delivery system and to fulfill its duty,
central government enacted Legal Services Authorities Act in the year 1987 which came into
force in the year 1995. Under this Act, comprehensive legal aid programme on uniform basis
throughout the country from village level court to highest court was provided besides
directing to set up different legal services authorities and committees from Taluk level upto
national level. Legal services not only included providing of advocate free of cost but also to
bear all the expenses connected with the litigation and court fees. Spreading of awareness
about one’s rights and how and from which authority such rights can be enforced as well as to
take up the important matters of common man tothe higher courts in public interest litigation
is also a part of the functions of the legal services authorities and committees.
In the present chapter, it is discussed in brief which particular tool was used to carry
out the research. What material was collected, how data was obtained, what source of
information was contacted etc. is discussed. The objective behind carrying out the research
and why this topic was selected is touched. The third chapter deals with the historical
background of legal aid, when, where and why the concept of providing legal aid to poor
persons was developed and how it grow to the existing position and formed in the shape of a
statutory provision is discussed in this chapter. The reports of different committees, Law
Commission of India and various provisions of Legal Services Authorities Act are discussed
and pointed out besides describing the role of different persons in developing and making
contributions to the same is brought forward. What is the philosophy behind legal aid is also
tried to be discussed in this chapter.
The fourth chapter deals with the role of public interest litigation in legal aid services.
In this chapter, the scope and ambit of the PIL as well as how this concept was developed is
discussed. Who can institute such litigation and against whom, how the court can be

29
approached, what type of reliefs can be claimed, what type of orders can be passed by the
courts and what are the innovative ideas developed by court to enforce their directions, what
are the limitations and obstructions in pursuing the same in court of law are dealt with besides
giving references to some important PIL. Some instances where state legal services
authorities and committees have also instituted PIL are given while discussing the powers
given under Legal Services Authorities Act to institute such type of litigations. The
importance of PIL in legal aid field and how this method can be of big use in fulfilling the
objectives of the Act is taken note of it.
The fifth chapter point out how and in which manner, legal aid is provided and under
what authority in different countries. At national level, the role, activities, main achievements
and contributions made by different state legal services authorities are pointed out while
discussing in brief regarding set up of the legal services authorities and committees.
In the sixth chapter, the responsibilities of state legal services authorities are defined
besides pointing out how legal aid can be provided, which authority can provide such
services, what are the role of different institutions, non governmental organizations and
government authorities qua the goal of providing legal aid, who are the persons who falls in
the eligibility criteria to avail the legal aid, the role and responsibilities of the courts to make
available the provision of legal aid to poor and unrepresented litigants, benefits of Lok
Adalats and ADR mechanisms to get cheap and quick solution of the dispute, constitution of
permanent lok adalats, practical difficulties faced by lok adalats and reluctant of different
persons and authorities to approach this forums etc. is discussed in this chapter.
In the seventh chapter, Legal aid movements in India , constitution and functions of
Central and State Authorities under Legal Services Authorities Act as well as work and
activities done, workshops, training programme and seminars conducted, awareness
programmes organized and various schemes floated by Delhi Legal Services Authority have
been described. Empirical study of legal aid with special reference to its implementation in
Delhi state is dealt with in this chapter in detail.
In the last chapter, while concluding and summarizing the thesis, various suggestions
have been given to courts, legal services authorities, government authorities, non
governmental organizations, lawyers, law colleges etc. and different ways have been shown
how and in which manner the legal aid can be effectively provided to the needy persons and
how and in which it should work with coordination with each for best utilization of the
beneficial provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act. Legal Services Authorities must
work with great dedication, approach persons living in remote areas and create awareness of
30
availability of legal services available to them.
I. Introduction
II. Research Methodology
III. Historical Background of Legal Aid
IV. Role of Public Interest Litigation in Legal Aid Services
V. Legal Aid : National Perspective with Special Emphasis on Union Territory of
Delhi
VI. Legal Aid Services : Contemporary Issues and Challenges
VII. Implementation of Legal Aid Services
VIII. Conclusion and Suggestions

Crux of Chapters

Chapter-1 (Introduction):- In this chapter, basic introduction about need of legal aid by
different persons and obligation of the state to provide legal aid to the needy and eligible
person has been discussed. Access to justice and equal protection of law is not only the
fundamental right of every citizen but it is the duty of the state to provide free legal aid to
needy and poor person which has been included in the directive principles of the state
enshrined in Article 39A of the Constitution of India. The availability of free legal aid is not
only limited to ordinary courts but it covers every tribunal, authority or office performing
quasi judicial functions. To supplement the justice delivery system and to fulfill its duty,
central government enacted Legal Services Authorities Act in the year 1987 which came into
force in the year 1995. Under this Act, comprehensive legal aid programme on uniform basis
throughout the country from village level court to highest court was provided besides
directing to set up different legal services authorities and committees from Taluk level upto
national level. Legal services not only included providing of advocate free of cost but also to
bear all the expenses connected with the litigation and court fees. Spreading of awareness
about one’s rights and how and from which authority such rights can be enforced as well as to
take up the important matters of common man to the higher courts in public interest litigation
is also a part of the functions of the legal services authorities and committees.
Chapter-2 (Research Methodology):-As the research upon legal aid is mainly related
to the Union Territory of Delhi, so in this chapter, it is discussed in brief which particular tool

31
was used to carry out the research. What material was collected, how data was obtained, what
source of information was contacted etc. is discussed. The objective behind carrying out the
research and why this topic was selected is touched. What particular activities are carried out
in Delhi Legal Services Authority and how the same were found better then other state
authorities are based not only upon personal knowledge and experience gained while working
as Member Secretary of this authority but also from various records, reports and data. The
need of the hour is to attach importance on causes of the poor and down trodden and legal
assistance is a necessary sine qua non for justice and where it is not provided injustice is
likely to result. Through the thesis, I have tried to touch the various aspects of the legal aid
and different provisions of Legal Services Authorities Act and opined to what an extent this
provisions have helped the poor and helpless people to bring smile on their faces after getting
justice from the court of law and what steps can be taken further to improve this facility and
to take maximum benefits of the various provisions of the law. Some discussions have also
been made to bring on record the shortfalls, defects and loopholes of the provisions of the Act
besides pointing out towards some limitations in conducting my research.
Chapter-3 (Historical background of legal aid):- When, where and why the
concept of providing legal aid to poor persons was developed and how it grow to the existing
position and formed in the shape of a statutory provision is discussed in this chapter. The
reports of different committees, Law Commission of India and various provisions of Legal
Services Authorities Act are discussed and pointed out besides describing the role of different
persons in developing and making contributions to the same is brought forward. What is the
philosophy behind legal aid is also tried to be discussed in this chapter.

Chapter-4 (Role of public interest litigation in legal aid services):- Public

Interest Litigation (PIL) has attained much significance than anticipated as against the
traditional and conventional litigations. It is a strategic arm of the legal aid movement which
is intended to bring justice within the reach of the obstructions in pursuing the same in court
of law are dealt with besides giving references to some important PIL. Some instances where
state legal services authorities and committees have also instituted PIL are given while
discussing the powers given under Legal Services Authorities Act to institute such type of
litigations. The importance of PIL in legal aid field and how this method can be of big use in
fulfilling the objectives of the Act is taken note of it.

Chapter-5 (Legal aid-international and national perspective):- In this chapter,

32
how and in which manner, legal aid is provided and under what authority in different
countries such as UK, USA, China, Canada and Australia is discussed in brief. At national
level, the role, activities, main achievements and contributions made by different state legal
services authorities are pointed out while discussing in brief regarding set up of the legal
services authorities and committees. Since this thesis is mainly concerned with the Delhi
state, so the activities of Delhi Legal Services Authority is discussed in detail while pointing
out how and in which manner the DLSA has become successful in implementing the
provisions of Legal Services Authorities Act in true and real sense. The data and information
collected is well defined besides showing that achievements of this authority is much better
then any other state authority.

Chapter-6 (Legal aid services: Contemporary issues and challenges):- What

are the responsibilities of state legal services authorities, how legal aid can be provided,
which authority can provide such services, what are the role of different institutions, non
governmental organizations and government authorities qua the goal of providing legal aid,
who are the persons who falls in the eligibility criteria to avail the legal aid, the role and
responsibilities of the courts to make available the provision of legal aid to poor and
unrepresented litigants, benefits of Lok Adalats and ADR mechanisms to get cheap and quick
solution of the dispute, constitution of permanent lok adalats, practical difficulties faced by
lok adalats and reluctant of different persons and authorities to approach this forums etc. is
discussed in this chapter.
Chapter-7 (Implementation of legal aid services):- Legal aid movements in India,
constitution and functions of Central and State Authorities under Legal Services Authorities
Act as well as work and activities done, workshops, training programme and seminars
conducted, awareness programmes organized and various schemes floated by Delhi Legal
Services Authority have been described. Empirical study of legal aid with special reference to
its implementation in Delhi state is dealt with in this chapter in detail.

Chapter-8 (Conclusion and suggestions):- In this chapter, while concluding and

summarizing the thesis, various suggestions have been given to courts, legal services
authorities, government authorities, non governmental organizations, lawyers, law colleges
etc. and different ways have been shown how and in which manner the legal aid can be
effectively provided to the needy persons and how and in which it should work with

33
coordination with each for best utilization of the beneficial provisions of the Legal Services
Authorities Act. Legal Services Authorities must work with great dedication, approach
persons living in remote areas and create awareness of availability of legal services available
to them.

CHAPTER 3
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LEGAL AID
Judiciary is one of the important parts of any country and independent judiciary which
protects the legal, basic and constitutional rights of citizens is respected by everyone. Unless
the judicial system is accessible to everyone, no country can progress and develop in effective
manner. The rich can approach court of law very easily but poor person should be also given
the equal opportunity to get his rights enforced. It is the duty and obligation of the state to
provide competent legal aid to every person who cannot afford it due to financial restraint or
due to some disability. In India, where certain basic and fundamental rights have been
provided to every citizen under articles 1413, 2114, 22(1)15, 39A16 then at the same time, an
obligation is also put by framer of the Constitution to help the needy and poor people to avail
the same. Relieving ‘Legal Poverty’ i.e. the incapacity of many people to make full use of
law and its institutions, has now been accepted as one of the function of a ‘Welfare State’.
Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that state shall secure that the
operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in
particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to
ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of
economic or other disability. Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the state to
ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal

13
Equality before law—The State shall not deny to any person equality before law or the equal protection of
the laws within the territory of India.
14
Protection of life and personal liberty—No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to the procedure established by law.
15
Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases----(1) No person who is arrested shall be
detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be
denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice.
16
Equal justice and free legal aid—The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes
justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation
or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen
by reason of economic or other disabilities.

34
opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to ensure that constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter
and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker sections
of the society.
The putting up of the right to obtain legal aid as one of the directive principles of State
policy under Article 39A of the Constitution rather than making it a fundamental right may
invite some cynical minds to say that the government and the masters were not sincere in
their endeavours and only wanted to provide a lip service to the public at large by making it a
toothless tigers by incorporating it as one of the directive principles of State policy. This
view, however, is not sustainable in as much as the mandate of Article 39A has been
crystallized into a statutory right by the enactment of the Legal Services Authorities Act,
1987 which has got sufficient sanctions behind the activities of Legal Services Authorities as
well as behind the awards of Lok Adalats including the setting up of Permanent Lok Adalats
and thus this directive principle of State policy i.e., Article 39A no longer remains a paper
tiger and a rule without a sanction behind it.
After coming into force of Constitution of India, in order to implement the basic
fundamental rights of the citizens and to give effect to the constitution mandate of the right of
life and liberty especially in case of poor and down trodden people of the country,
government started doing ground work for providing free legal aid to deserving persons and
in this regard some discussions took place in various conferences of Law Ministers and Law
Commissions but no effective proposal could come forward. In different states legal aid
schemes were floated through Legal Aid Boards, Societies and Law Departments.
The first major step taken in this regard prior to independence of the country was in the
year 1945 when in the State of Bombay, a society named as Bombay Legal Aid Society was
set up which invited the intention of the government of India towards Lord Rushcliffe’s
report regarding legal aid and advice in England and Wales. The post independence legal aid
development was initiated by formation ofBombay Committee in 1949 under the
chairmanship of Mr. N.H. Bhagwati, Sir Arthur Trevor Harries Committee in West Bengal in
year 1949, initiatives by the state governments such as The Legal Aid Committee formed in
1952 in UP, the Legal Aid Committee formed in Madras in 1954, and so on. Kerala Legal Aid
(to the Schedule Caste, to the Schedule Tribes and to poor) Rules, 1957, 14 th Report of the
Law Commission of India, Central Government Scheme 1960 as well as National Conference
on Legal Aid, 1970 also came in existence.17

17
See fourteenth Law Commission Report Chapter – 27, Volume 1, Pages 587 - 624

35
 Initially the government was of the view that making provisions of legal aid to poor was
the entire responsibilities of the state and states have to make budgetary provisions in this
regard. In January, 1956 government again asked state governments to increase the scope of
legal assistance to the poor. Though some private societies tried to take initiative in this
regard but could not do much due to lack of funds.

Law Commission Report (1958): Government of India set up 14th Law Commission
under the chairmanship of Mr. M.C. Setalvad, the then Attorney General of India on 5-8-1955
who in its fourteenth report investigated various aspects of system of judicial administration
of the country. The Commission consisted of other 10 members also which included two
serving chief justices of High Courts, two retired High Court judge, advocates general of two
different states and prominent advocates besides co-opted members. The commission
suggested broad outlines of some changes to make judicial system speedier and less
expensive.18
In its 14th report, Law Commission dealt with the issue of legal aid. Commission was
conscious of the fact that unless provisions are made for assisting the poor person for
providing court fees, lawyers fees and other incidental charges of litigation, he is denied
equal opportunity of seeking justice. Legal aid to poor is not a minor procedural law problem
but is a question of fundamental character.
Commission further held that it is the obligation of the state to provide legal aid and
rejected the plea that providing of legal aid would make people more litigious, would
increase litigation, put extra financial burden on budget and would invite dishonest and
unscrupulous persons to misuse this facility. Commission further requested the lawyers and
legal fraternity to take some moral and social responsibilities for implementing the scheme of
providing free legal aid to poor as they have to conduct their cases in the court of law but
totally opposed the putting force and compulsion of doing this work. It was suggested that
some scale should be made for providing fee structure, though comparatively at lesser rate
then normal fee for lawyers who offers to do such service for poor persons. Making of
provision of substantial budgetary provision was also recommended for providing legal aid to
poor. It was also recommended that N.H. Bhagwati Committee’s report given in context of
state of Bombay with some modifications be made applicable to each state. 19 Commission

18
Submitted to Government of India on 26-9-1958
19
Summery of Bhagwati Committee’s report was annexed as appendix-1 of chapter-27 of 14th Law
Commission report

36
recommended for immediate setting up legal aid committees by every bar associations in
each state, making some changes in High Court rules etc.

P.N. Bhagwati committee report (1971): The another major step towards providing
free legal aid took place when government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of
Justice P.N. Bhagwati, Judge Supreme Court of India who observed "even while retaining the
adversary system, some changes may be effected whereby the judge is given greater
participatory role in the trial so as to place poor, as far as possible, on a footing of equality
with the rich in the administration of justice." 20 The focus of the committee was the indigent
person seeking to access justice. Answering to the question of inequality in the administration
of justice between the rich and the poor the report clearly stated that there can be no rule of
law unless the common man irrespective of the fact whether he is rich or poor is able to assert
and vindicate to the rights given to him by the law. The machinery of law should be readily
accessible to all. The poor must be placed in the same position as the rich by means of
adequate legal service programme. It stated that the inequality between the rich and the poor
in administration of the justice can be removed by establishing and developing effective
system of the legal aid programme. Legal aid and advice should be regarded not as a matter
of charity or bounty but as a matter of right. It is a part of social security programme just as
much as medical aid is. Responsibility of the state was fixed for providing legal assistance to
the poor and indigent by stating that this obligation is not merely, socio-economic or political
but is constitutional by reason of Articles 14 and 22(1).
Committee wanted that state should made rules and legislation while taking into
consideration socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country. It also emphasized that
legal aid programmes and the organizations implementing the same must be responsive to the
poor in giving legal service and must not be mechanical and wooden in its approach and even
after introduction of such programmes, there must be continues examination of its utility and
its responsiveness to the poor. The report also in detail dealt with the true scope and extent of
the legal aid and pressed for setting up legal aid fund for providing cost and expenses of
litigations as well as for remitting of court fees in case of an assisted person by making
suitable changes in the legislation. The report also in detail stated the constitution and the
working of different legal committees such as: (a) The Taluka Legal Aid Committee, (b) The
District Legal Aid Committee, (c) The State Legal Aid Committee. It is recommended that

20
Committee of Justice Bhagwati on Free Legal Aid constituted in the year 1971

37
legal service programme be implemented in its entirety but in phased manner at three stages.
Committee also suggested for implementation of the preventive legal services programme
such as legal research and innovation, institutional changes and organization of the poor etc.
may be postponed but there should not be delay in implementation of the items of the legal
service and education.21

Krishna Iyer committee report (1973) : Justice Krishna Iyer presided over another
similar committee set up on 22 October, 1972 and dealt with the question of nexus between
law and poverty. He, in his 275 pages report submitted on 27 th May, 1973 spoke highly in
favor of concept of public interest litigation and emphasized the need for active and
widespread legal aid system that enables law to reach the people, rather than requiring people
to reach the law.22
The report of this committee can be said as mark stone of legal aid development in
India as it impressed upon the democratic obligation of the state towards its subject to ensure
that the legal system becomes an effective tool in helping secure the ends of social justice and
an effort was made to classify those categories of persons who are most in need of legal aid
and the faith of the poor man in the legal system should be enhanced by providing him with
adequate non- governmental as well as governmental assistance. Committee somehow
blamed the attitude of the judiciary in the country and professed the resolution of disputes at
the grass root level through village panchayats.23

Juridicare committee report (1977) : Another committee of two judges Justice P.N.
Bhagwati and Justice Krishna Iyer was set up for providing adequate legal service
programme in all the states on uniform basis. This committee in its final report popularly
known as ‘Report on National Juridicare: Equal Justice-Social Justice” submitted in the year
1977 stressed upon the need for a new philosophy of legal service programme to be framed in
the light of socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country. It also opined that the
traditional legal service programme which is essentially a court or litigation oriented, cannot
meet the specific needs and the peculiar problems of the poor in our country. The committee
in its report also included draft legislation for legal services in the name of National Legal
Services Bill, 1977 and gave it the name of Social Action Litigation. It also recommended
21
Article of Varun Pathak on www.legal service India.com.
22
Committee on Legal Aid titled as "processionals justice to poor" set up in the year 1972
23
Article of Varun Pathak on www.legal service India.com.

38
that legal service organization should not be a department of the government but an
autonomous institution headed by the Judge of the Supreme Court having representations
from Bar Associations, the Government, the Parliament and the judiciary as well as voluntary
associations and social workers and that would be a multi tier set up for the legal aid
organization. The contents of this report clearly point out that it was in continuation of the
1973 report with an extensive revision, updating, revaluating and adding. The various
suggestions made by him can be summarized as under:

A national legal service authority accountable to the parliament

but protected from official control was recommended.
Simplification of the legal procedure and an emphasis on
conciliated settlement outside court has to be the policy of legal
aid schemes. The report adopted the three fold test laid down for
determining eligibility: Means test—to determine people entitled
to legal aid. Prima facie test—to determine whether there was a
prima facie case to give legal aid or not. Reasonableness test—to
see whether the defense sought by a person is ethical and moral.

Though committee was in favor of regular arrangement for aid and advice to the under trials
but was not in favor of habitual offenders or cases involving private claims. A liberalized bail
policy, extension of legal services during investigation as well as post conviction stage
including providing rehabilitative services, compensation to victims of crimes, making
provisions of salaried lawyers was also favored by the committee. In the report, committee
also recommended that the family courts should be established for women and children with
women judges specially in slum areas and rural villages besides setting up public defence
council in children’s court, legal advice bureau in backward areas. The report encourages the
involvement of law students in legal aid schemes particularly for preventive legal services.
The report envisaged several modes of delivery of legal services. The primary mode would be
the providing of legal advice through various legal aid offices having both salaried lawyers
and assigned lawyers. It also favored the setting up of Nagrik Salah Kendra at each legal aid
office to provide counselling service and also act as a referral body for all kinds of problems
for which assistance may be needed. A central concern in this report was the de-centralization
of the justice redressal mechanism. A whole chapter was devoted to public interest litigation

39
for bringing institutional and law reforms. This report focused on the orientation of the
different actors who would be the participants in the program which included members of
judiciary, law universities, law students, voluntary agencies and social workers. There was
also an emphasis on the university law clinics and their functions included preventive and
positive service at pre-litigation stage by negotiation and conciliation disputes outside the
courts, giving postal advice in respect of legal problems of individuals, seeking
administrative and legislative remedies against wrongs done and so on. It was suggested that
the Advocates Act, 1961 be amended to recognize and permit that the funding of the legal aid
programme was the state responsibility and for this identified sources such as court fees
collected from the litigants, legal aid steps, levy of special cess, donations and many more for
the purpose of funding the legal aid programme and so on.24

Committee for implementing legal aid scheme: Though the ideas as laid down by
the Justice Bhagwati and Justice Krishna Iyer’s report was revolutionary but not much that
was mentioned in the report was implemented despite its submission in the year 1977 and it
remained on the shelf along with it the National legal Services Bill. To augment the justice
delivery mechanism, the Central Government on 26 September, 1980 constituted another
high-powered Committee for implementing legal aid schemes, to monitor and implement
comprehensive legal aid programme and to work out mechanism which could operate and
workout satisfactorily at all levels i.e., National, State and District as well as Taluk levels on
uniform basis. The said Committee was christened as ‘Committee for Implementing
Legal Aid Schemes’ (CILAS) and the same was constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr.
Justice P. N. Bhagwati (as he then was) and the said committee was assigned the task
provision of legal aid by law teachers and students. The report clearly stated to monitor the
implementation of legal aid programmes on uniform basis in all the states and union territories
and to fulfill the objective of providing free legal aid. CILAS evolved a model scheme for
legal aid programmes applicable throughout the country by which several Legal Aid and
Advice Boards were set up in the states and union territories. The CILAS was totally funded
by grants from the central government and the Government was very much concerned with
the programme of legal aid as its implementation was the Constitution mandate. The
introduction of Lok Adalats added a new chapter to the justice dispensation system of this
country and succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to the litigants for conciliatory

24
Article of Varun Pathak on www.legal service India.com.

40
settlement of their disputes.

Legal Services Authorities Act : A review, however, of the working of the CILAS
revealed that there were certain deficiencies and it was therefore felt that it will be desirable to
constitute a statutory legal services authorities on National, State and District levels so as to
provide effective monitoring of the legal aid programmes and with this endeavour and
objective and for providing for the composition of such statutory legal services authorities and
for the funding of such authorities by means of grants from the central government and state
government, the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was enacted which came into force
w.e.f. 9 November, 1995 after certain amendments were introduced in it. The year 1987,
proved to be very significant in Legal Aid history, as the “Legal Services Authorities Act” was
enacted to give a statutory base to legal aid programs throughout the country and bring about
a uniform pattern. The said Act provides for the setting up of the National Legal Services
Authority, the State Legal Services Authorities in different States, the District Legal Services
Authorities at different district levels as well as creation of setting up of Permanent Lok
Adalats. The Act also provides for a mechanism whereby supervision can be done regarding
the functioning of the State Legal Services Authorities by the National Legal Services
Authority and of the District level Services Authorities by the State Legal Services
Authorities.

41
 Mr. Justice R.N. Mishra, the then Chief Justice of India played a key role in the
enforcement of the Act. The constitution of the Committee for the Implementation of Legal
Aid Schemes (CILAS) in 1980 was a major step in institutionalizing legal aid. The Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987, displaced the ‘CILAS’ and introduced a hierarchy of judicial
and administrative agencies. Under this Act, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) at
the Centre and a State Legal Services Authority in every States were ordered to be constituted
to give effect to its directions.
National Legal Services Authority was made functional under the executive
chairmanship of Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Judge, Supreme Court of India on 17 July, 1997. The
first Member Secretary of the authority joined in December, 1997 and by January, 1998 the
other officers and staff were also appointed. By February, 1998 the office of National Legal
Services Authority became properly functional for the first time. NALSA is a statutory apex
body which has been set up to lay down policies and principles for making legal services
available and to frame most effective and economical schemes for legal services and for
implementing and monitoring legal aid programs in the country. It also disburses funds and
grants to State Legal Services authorities and NGOs for implementing legal aid schemes and
programmes. The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has also been constituted under
the Act. In every High Court also, The High Court Legal Services Committees have been
established to provide free legal aid to the eligible persons in legal matters coming before the
High Courts. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 also provides for constitution of the
State Legal Services Committees, High Court Legal Services Committees, District Legal
Services Committees and Taluk Legal Services Committees.
The First Annual Meet of the State Legal Services Authorities was held on 12 th
September, 1998 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi presided over by Justice A.S. Anand, in
which the progress of on-going schemes which had been initiated by NALSA was examined
and decisions of far reaching implications were taken with a view to strengthen and
streamline legal aid programmes in the country. In October, 1998, Justice A.S. Anand
assumed the Office of the Chief Justice of India and thus became the Patron-in-Chief of
National Legal Services Authority whereas Justice S.P. Bharucha, the senior-most Judge of
the Supreme Court of India assumed the office of the Executive Chairman, National Legal
Services Authority.
The Second Annual Meet of the State Legal Services Authorities was held at Jubilee
Hall, Hyderabad on 9 October, 1999 wherein establishment of counseling centers for
amicable settlement of disputes even at pre-litigative stage was emphasized. It was also
42
pressed that legal services functionaries must find out as to whether a person approaching
them for legal aid has or not a prima facie case in his favour and legal aid must not be given
as a matter of routine and frivolous cases should not be supported by legal aid authorities.
Thereafter every year, such meets are organized in which progress of legal aid and
implementations of various schemes for poor and needy persons are supervised and new steps
are taken to do more for such people. In pursuance of the call given by Justice A.S. Anand,
the Chief Justice of India in the First Annual Meet, 9 November is being celebrated every
year by all Legal Services Authorities as "Legal Services Day" and public are informed by
various methods from time to time about the important schemes introduced by NALSA and
state authorities for providing legal aid and the utility of Lok Adalats. State Legal Services
Authorities all over the country organize Lok Adalats, legal literacy camps and undertake
legal awareness campaign to make people aware of their legal rights.
Justice S.P. Bharucha, Executive Chairman, NALSA while writing in 'Nyaya Deep' and
in the course of his keynote address in the meeting of the Member Secretaries held in NALSA
office on 19.2.2000 emphasized the need for improving the quality of legal aid that is being
given by legal aid advocates. He observed that teeming millions of this country who live
below poverty line in tribal, backward and far flung areas look to Legal Services Authorities
for help and support in resolving their legal problems. When involved in litigation they very
often feel that they are fighting an unequal battle in which the party that has better financial
resources can secure more able legal assistance. Justice Bharucha is of the view that these
poor and weaker sections must not remain comparatively inferior legal assistance. He has
called upon legal services authorities to revise the payment schedule for legal aid panel
advocates and also compress the panels so that panel advocates get more work and better
remuneration from legal services authorities and thus get encouraged to render effective legal
assistance to aided persons.

Besides that the Act also seeks to devise and give impetus to another mechanism of
justice delivery system in the form of Lok Adalats and it notes that for some time now the Lok
Adalats are being constituted at various places in the country for the disposal of disputes
pending in the courts and even at pre-litigation stage in a summary way. The said concept of
Lok Adalat has proved to be very popular in providing speedier system of justice system and
it was felt that there was a need for providing statutory back up to the said institution and to
give legal mandate to the awards being given by Lok Adalats and it was felt that such a
statutory support would not only reduce the work of regular courts but also take justice to the
43
doorsteps to the poor and needy and make justice quicker and less expensive to the less
privileged sections of the society. With these objectives in mind, the Act provided for setting
up of Permanent Lok Adalats as well as devised a concept of mechanism to set up Lok Adalats
at pre-litigative stage so that the requirement of filing a case is obviated altogether. The Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987, therefore, sought to fulfill all these objectives and was thus
enacted.

Salient features of Legal Aid

 The legal aid means providing an arrangement in the society so that the missionary of
administration of justice becomes easily accessible and is not out of reach of those who
have to resort to it for enforcement of their rights given to them by law.
 For a wide range of litigants with special needs, for instance, persons in custody,
children, women, complainants under the SC/ST Act, workmen, legal aid is
automatically available for filing or defending a case irrespective of the economic
status of that person.
 Under the legal aid schemes, an extensive network of legal aid committees exists at the
Taluk, District and State levels. In addition, every High Court and the Supreme Court
has its own legal services committees.
Legal aid strives to ensure that constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter
Ø
and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and
weaker sections of the society.
Ø The legal aid movement envisages a system where economically and socially
disadvantaged groups are assured of easy access to courts and other
government agencies for grievance redressal.
Ø The new rationale for legal aid emerged where law was slowly begun to be
regarded as the instrument through which socio-economic inequalities could
be lessened and through affirmative action, some amount of ‘advantage’ was
being assured to disadvantaged groups in fields of employment and
education.

The Legal Services Authorities have thus far provided free and competent legal services to the
weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied
to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities and they have been organizing Lok

44
Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promised justice on a basis of equal
opportunity. The Legal Services Authorities have thus been performing their onerous duty and
discharging their constitutional responsibility to ensure that justice is available to all
concerned whosoever is in need of the same.
After the enactment of Legal Services Authorities Act in the year 1987 and coming into
force this Act with effect from 9 November, 1995, no major discussion took place in any of
the subsequent Law Commission Reports because the Act itself is found complete in all
respect. The government appears to be overall satisfied with the development of legal aid in
the different states. Though some minor issues arose such under the impression that they are
getting. as increase of limit of income ceiling in respect of a person who can seek legal
service, qualifications and service conditions of the presiding officers of permanent Lok
Adalats etc. but those gaps were fulfilled by making rules and regulations under the Act by
different states according to their requirements and needs of the people. Now the government
agencies have to take necessary steps by providing sufficient budgets, infrastructure etc. to
strengthen the pillars of the legal aid, otherwise the Act basically is complete itself.

Philosophy behind legal aid : “Ability is of little use without opportunity”- is an old
saying and it requires an opportunity to show your ability. Similarly, an opportunity is
required to assert your rights, to defend yourselves and to crave for your legitimate claims. If
there is no equality, no equality of opportunity, the available rights even if they are existing on
the statue books make no difference in the lives of all concerned as they can no longer take
steps for the vindication of their rights at the appropriate forum. Enacting of the said
legislation remains an exercise in futility and the entire process being brought to naught
giving it negative returns.
It may be appreciated that when there is a fight between two unequals, conclusion is
already forgone and one need not tease his brain to state that strong person would win and the
weak would wilt under its pressure and onslaught. If a poor person has no mean to pay court
fees and no money to pay for advocate’s fees and other incidental costs of litigation, he
certainly is denied an opportunity to seek justice.
The concept of Article 39A, however, was already existing and was inbuilt under article
14 and article 21 as well as article 22 of the Constitution, which all are Fundamental Rights.
The reasonability of not only substantive law but also of the procedural law was interpreted
to be well-existing within the mandate of Article 14 and Article 21 as per the landmark

45
judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the Menaka Gandhi v. Union of India,25
which developed the reasonableness, concept of the procedural law as well and which also
led to the development of the concept of a fair and equitable trial including right of a
expeditious trial within the framework of Article 21 of the Constitution. Apart from that,
section 304 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 also contemplated providing of the legal
aid to the accused at State expense and thus the concept of providing legal aid already existed
even prior to the enactment of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Various judicial
pronouncements of the Hon'ble Supreme Court have also lend weight and support to the legal
aid programmes and has given a much needed impetus. In Hussainara Khatoon (IV) v. Home
Secretary,26 the Apex Court emphasized that free legal aid is an inalienable element of
reasonable, fair and just procedure. Without it, a person suffering from economic or other
disabilities would be denied justice. In Sheela Bharse v. State of Maharashtra,27 the Supreme
Court opined that legal assistance to a poor or indigent accused under arrest and put in
jeopardy of his life and personal liberty is a constitutional imperative mandated not only by
Article 39A but also by Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Lawyers must positively reach
out to those sections of humanity who were poor, illiterate and ignorant and who were placed
in a crisis such as an accusation of crime and arrest or imprisonment, do not know what is
arrest or imprisonment, do not know what to do or where to go or to whom to turn on.
Free legal assistance at state cost is a fundamental right of a person accused of an
offence which may involve jeopardy to his life or personal liberty. This fundamental right is
implicit in the requirement of reasonable, fair and just procedure prescribed by Art. 21. The
exercise of this fundamental right is not conditional upon the accused applying for free legal
assistance so that if he does not make an application for free legal assistance the trial may
lawfully proceed without adequate legal representation being afforded to him. On the other
hand the Magistrate or the Sessions Judge before whom the accused appears is under an
obligation to inform the accused that if he is unable to engage the services of a lawyer on
account of poverty or indigence, he is entitled to obtain free legal services at the cost of the
State. The conviction reached without informing the accused that they were entitled to free
legal assistance and inquiring from them whether they wanted a lawyer to be provided to
them at State cost which resulted in the accused remaining unrepresented by a lawyer in the

25
(1978) 1 SCC 248 : (1978) 2 SCR 621 : AIR 1978 SC 597

26
(1980) 1 SCC 89 : AIR 1979 SC 1369.

27
AIR 1983 SC 378

46
trials is clearly a violation of the fundamental right of the accused under Art. 21 and the trial
must be held to be vitiated on account of a fatal constitutional infirmity.28
In Centre of Legal Research v. State of Kerala,29 the Apex Court directed that voluntary
organizations and social actions groups engaged in legal aid programmes must be encouraged
and supported by the State.
Legal aid is an essential part of the Administration of Justice. “Access to Justice for
all” is the motto of the Legal Services Authority. The goal is to secure justice to the weaker
sections of the society, particularly to the poor, downtrodden, socially backward, women,
children, handicapped etc. but steps are needed to be taken to ensure that nobody is deprived
of an opportunity to seek justice merely for want of funds or lack of knowledge. To
implement effectively all the central and state legislations, among other things, a functional
legal system as well as facilities for legal education and legal aid in support of deserving
persons is required. It would be apt to conclude the present theme with the following quote:

“Unless we think of others and do something for them, we miss one of

the greatest sources of happiness”.
—Ray Lyman Wilbur

Legal aid- a contemporary look : Night is always followed by the morning sunshine.
As darker will be the night, the brighter shall be the day. Hard work is always followed by
fruits of labour and happiness. Unless we have experienced the pangs of poverty and
impoverishness, we cannot enjoy sufficiently and to the same extent, the happiness and the
prosperity. To appreciate prosperity we must understand what poverty is? We can always
have the best taste of a sweet dish, if it is taken after a five course meal, be it the lunch or the
dinner. Prosperity and poverty, pains and gains are inter-related and if we are able to survive
and work our way through the poverty we shall certainly have the prosperity and if we are
able to do labour and experience the pains and hard work, there will be gains certainly.
Poverty is, therefore, not to be cursed but to be endured.
‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’ is an old saying. We remember those who remain
with us in our bad times because in good times everybody is with us and as has been rightly
said by John Churton Collins—‘in prosperity, our friends know us and in adversity, we know
our friends’. Prosperity makes friends and adversity tests them. A friend is one who helps the
28
Suk Das v. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, AIR 1986 SC 991.

29
AIR 1986 SC 1322.

47
person when the help is most needed. The Indian polity is a society within which the majority
lives in villages and most of the times they live a hand to mouth existence. For them, survival
is more important than anything else and the knowledge of information about their rights and
duties of others towards them is a secondary phenomenon.
We, the people of India,30 have made social justice an inalienable claim on the state
entitling the humblest humans to legal literacy and fundamental rights as well as their
enforcement a forensic reality, howsoever, powerful the hostile forces may be. The socially
alienated, the marginalized, the lowliest, the lost and the last must have the facility and the
means to secure judicial remedies and make the legal process a humane opportunity.
Injustices have many deprivations, victimizes the weaker sections and the minority suffers the
oppression syndrome. The declarations, proclamations, resolutions and legislations remain a
mirage unless there is sufficient infrastructure which can be set in motion to prevent or
punish a wrong and to make the available legal rights a reality and inexpensively, enforceable
human right. It is here that the role of Legal Services Authorities becomes relevant and comes
into play.
Founding fathers of Constitution have given us an equal access to justice and an equal
protection of laws along with equality before law. Articles 14, 21 read along with Article 39A
of the Constitution of India gives necessary commands to the States to ensure that the
operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity and further
mandates the states to provide free legal aid by suitable legislations or schemes or in any
other way to ensure that opportunity of securing justice are not denied to any citizen by
reason of economic or other disabilities.
Most social evils are an outcome or creation of poverty and the misery that comes with
being poor in a country like India, at the same time it also needs to be borne in mind that the
judiciary no matter however committed it may be towards uplifting the cause of the poor is
ultimately bound by procedural formalities which do not take into account the misery or
problems of the masses. Therefore, the sufferings being so many, it is not possible for the
legal system to remove even few of such problems. Poverty is a creation of unjust institutions
and unjust society. Therefore, in a country like India if you are poor, you are ineffective
socially as well as economically. The only way that you can then be empowered is through
radical revamping of the socio-economic structure. Such a radical change according to
Matthews and Outten could only be brought about in the form of a revolution that the legal

30
Preamble of Constitution of India

48
service programme only is capable of gearing. Thus, the legal aid programme aimed at
revamping the socio-economic structure by way of removing the socially unjust institutions
and creating a new order based upon the ethos of human liberty, equality and dignity of
mankind.
The issue of poverty and access to justice is something that has been talked about since
the birth of our country. People have congregated, discussed, debated and fought over this
issue and yet ten years into the new millennium, with more than half a century of
independence behind us, here we are, talking about the same thing all over again. One would
have expected that in this fast-paced world we have created for ourselves, topics such as these
would have become outmoded. One would have thought that silent screams of the millions of
voiceless in our country would have halted by now. One would have thought that everything
that had to be said about the issue has already been said with nothing more for us to do.
Yet we are still a country with millions of people starving, with millions living in
unimaginable conditions, without the most basic of their needs fulfilled and, therefore, we
better not stop talking about the issue. Indeed, as long as we are a nationwhich continues to
house such conditions for its people, such discussions must continue and thus, the hope that
such problems will be dealt with must remain alive. It is noteworthy that in this country the
problems of the poor are still relevant and we must feel the need to discuss this issue and
ultimately do something about it.
When we talk of justice in the broader sense, we have to bear in mind the definition
given in Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis which states that “Justice is constant and perpetual
will to render to everyone that to which he is entitled”. Similarly, Cicero described justice as
“the disposition of the human mind to render everyone his due”. Thus, the rights guaranteed
to persons are inherent in the very notion of justice. Given that justice is defined in terms of
rights, access to justice, most simply put would include the ability of any person to approach
the appropriate authority and effectively claim the enforcement of rights. Thus, access to
justice, in more real terms, would include the sum total of all those rights and remedies
available to a person through which he can seek the enforcement of his or her rights.
Legislatures at the national and state level have contributed by creating a plethora of
laws in the realm of social welfare. But mere promises in legal provisions cannot fill bellies,
or provide employment opportunities, or give succour in times of distress. Statutory
declarations do create rights but they are to be followed up by the executive which is duty-
bound to enforce those rights and make them meaningful. It is in this context that the legal
instrumentalities are constrained to step in and ensure that each wing of the state does the
49
duty entrusted to it, so that the law of the land is enforced.
The role of law in this context has to be that which provides a substantive basis through
which a person can legally seek the enforcement of his or her rights. Indian Constitution has
already provided us with a set of fundamental rights which guarantee, inter alia, the right to
life and personal liberty,31 freedom of speech and expression,32 the right to equality33 and the
right to approach a court of law in the event of violation of these rights. 34 However,
experience and the very real difficulties of poverty, ignorance and zeal to raise voice have
shown that these rights alone are not sufficient means for the delivery of justice to all.
Luckily though, the Judiciary has been able to expand these basic rights guaranteed by the
Constitution to include various rights which make access to justice for the underprivileged
easier.
Legal Aid in its modern sense is a recent concept, having taken its shape in the twentieth
century. The concept of legal aid has attracted world wide attention. Legal Aid in its common
sense conveys the assistance provided by the society to its weaker members in their effort to
protect their rights and liberties. Broadly speaking, it means and includes providing legal
advice, arbitration, counseling and conciliation and making available lawyers to those who
were unable to pay fees for the legal services and also to some special categories of society
who are normally treated as less privileged. It also means creation of legal awareness amongst
people about their rights, duties and obligations, to ensure protection of legal aid,
constitutional rights of the under privileged, poor, neglected and the indigent.
In legal sense, legal aid means the professional legal assistance given either free or for
nominal sum, to indigent persons in need of such help. Legal Service includes the rendering
of any service in the conduct of any case or other legal proceeding before any court or other
authority or tribunal and the giving of advice on any legal matter.35
Conventionally, ‘Legal Aid’ has been taken to mean the organized effort of the bar
council, the community and the government to provide the services of lawyers free, or for a
token charge, to persons who cannot afford to pay the usual exorbitant fees. Inability to
consult or to be represented by a lawyer may amount to the same thing as being deprived of
the security of law. Rawls first principle of justice is that each person is to have an equal right
31
Art. 21 of Constitution of India
32
Art. 19 of Constitution of India
33
Art. 14 to 18 of Constitution of India
34
Art. 32 of Constitution of India
35
Section 2 (1) (c) of Legal Services Authority Act, 1987

50
to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of
liberties for all.36 In the context of our constitutional demands and State obligations, legal aid
has assumed a more positive and dynamic role which should include strategic and preventive
services. Relieving ‘Legal Poverty’ – the incapacity of many people to make full use of law
and its institutions – has now been accepted as a function of a ‘Welfare State’. Apart from the
social, economic and political requirements on which the claim of legal aid rests, it is now
recently recognized as a constitutional imperative arising from Articles 14, 21, 22(1), 39A of
the Constitution of India.
‘The words ‘legal aid’ evokes the notion of providing a lawyer to an indigent litigant at
State expense’.37 The framers of the Constitution through Preamble have also promised to
secure to all its citizens justice which is social, economic and political as well as liberty,
equality and fraternity. These words in the Preamble to the Constitution which we, the people
of India, have given unto ourselves epitomize the dignity of individual as much as the unity
of the Nation. ‘Dignity is a word of moral and spiritual import which implies a obligation on
the part of the Government to respect the personality of a citizen and to create conditions in
which every citizen would be delivered social, economic and political justice’. In fact,
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity form a trinity as stated by Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar in his
closing speech in the Constituent Assembly on 25.11.1949 and one cannot be divorced from
the other.
India, as it is today continues to survive among paradoxical forces and howsoever proud
we may be of our accomplishment in the field of science and technology, social and
economic reforms, education and prosperity, yet it is the same Indian society where poor
continued to be poor and a sizable section of the Indian people continue to be illiterate and
ignorant and consequently living below the poverty line and subjected to all forms of
exploitation and miseries. We still remain a cast-ridden society and various negative forces
based on language, religion and socio-economic factors continue to haunt us despite more
than 60 years of independence All the progress and prosperity, earned by us post-
independence, loses its value on account of rampant exploitation and injustice. Illiteracy and
ignorance force large masses of people to tolerate social and economic inequalities and the
goal of equality before the law continues to remain a myth or an illusion. Manifold problems
arise causing a feeling of helplessness and despair. The benefits, which our systems, nurtured

36
John Rawls Theory of Justice in Present Scenario by Apoorva Yadav—www.goforthelaw.com
37
Justice S. Muralidhar, Judge, Delhi High Court in his book Law, Poverty and Legal Aid.

51
by democracy, and accentuated on account of hard labour and intellect of our people and
which our systems are capable of delivering fail to reach the lowliest amongst low and
weakest amongst the weak.
The doors of the court are open to all but that itself is not justice so long as the weakest
of the weak is not empowered enough to have access to justice. The major hurdles in the way
of securing justice for all are ignorance and illiteracy, or from poverty. Ignorance is not
innocence; it is a sin and we have to fight a battle against it. The focus has to be shift from
ignorance to legal empowerment and all concerned have to make concerted efforts to enable
the weaker sections of the society to arrive at a platform where they can get rid of their
ignorance and march towards legal empowerment. The dark curtain of ignorance has to be
ripped apart and eliminated by the power of knowledge and by spreading awareness and
information. The people are to be told what their rights are and what the obligations of the
State and other citizens are towards them, what are the forums and means available for
enforcing such rights and obligations and how poverty cannot come in the way of having free
access to justice.
The Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive have to join hands together to reach
out to the most marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society and tell them what their
rights are. If the democracy has to survive we shall have to learn constitutional values.
Simultaneously, the Police, Army and the other organized forces which are prone to
committing injustice and causing violation of human rights such as custodial tortures etc. are
to be sensitized to value human dignity and human rights and to work in such a fashion so as
to imbibe confidence amongst the sufferers of injustice by removing the feeling of
despondency from their minds. One has to promote harmony in brotherhood transcending all
religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and we have to take along with us
those who are lagging behind for historical or social reasons and we together have to strive
towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that we, as a nation,
constantly rise to higher levels of endeavour and achievements and succeed in securing to the
people of India what we have resolved to give unto them.
The road ahead is long and may be strewn with hurdles but we must appreciate that
only ‘dead fish swims along the tides’ and we have to swim against the tide and take concrete
creative steps towards the empowerment of powerless and to bridge the wide gulf between
the haves and have-nots. The need of the hour is to have a paradigm shift in the philosophy of
legal aid and the role of Legal Services Authorities. The focus has to shift from the right of
legal aid being only a responsibility of the State to the incarnation of the right to legal aid as
52
manifestation of the enforceable Fundamental Right to equal access to justice and legal aid
becoming a right from a measure of welfare or a charity. The Legal Services Authorities had
to initiate measures to reach the poor rather than other way round and in Criminal Justice
System the legal aid would have to be made available at every stage from the point of arrest
and custody to the disposal of the judicial proceedings at all the levels including appeal,
review or revision and legal aid would also have to be made available in jails and other
custodial institutions. Similarly protection of civil rights of such poor persons in respect of
their property matters, jobs, mutual family relations etc. is to be provided.
The legal aid programmes and various legal aid initiatives must precede with the
philosophy that poverty is a curse and to born poor is in itself is a crime in the context of
Indian system. The beggars, the vagabonds, the venturing, mentally ill and sex workers
continued to be governed by laws that criminalize their activities and they are viewed as
status offenders. Most of them are socially rejected and disabled and are incarcerated for
years together for reasons wholly extraneous to the purpose of laws that are used to govern
them. Since this particular segment of the society has already been rejected by their families
and the societies, they find it impossible to reintegrate into the society and long years of
incarceration also denude them of their ability to survive. In this context, the system of
monetary bails and bonds which is almost impossible for beggars and vagabonds and such
other persons of their ilk to produce, had to be reformed to account for the difficulties faced
by such indigent persons brought into the Criminal Justice System.
The law as it is today, is too complex for the poor to understand and decipher and there
is very little feedback on how the poor perceive the law, the legal system and the
personnel they encounter within it. The inability of those whom the law is meant to
empower, to invoke its processes for number of reasons and primarily the fear of
reversal from the upper caste undermines the requirements and need to spread the
awareness of the existence of law as well as provide legal aid system and legal aid in
invoking its processes and therefore, this manner of awareness generation must form
one of the principle task of the Legal Services Authorities. The feedback obtained from
the poor shall provide sufficient inputs in examining the relevance that the legal system
has to the lives of the poor and would enable us to attempt any legal and institutional
reform if required. The law has to be brought out of the ivory-towers, its processes
demystified and it must be so simplified and codified to enable people to understand
and question the law and reconstruct it in a manner that would subserve their purpose.
Simultaneously, the Legal Services Authorities would have to built up a structure and
53
system wherein the poor and the aggrieved persons feel free to come to it to seek
redressal of their grievances and vindication of their rights and should not feel
constrained and contrived to come to it in view of its larger than life edifice and
complex systems which are hard to understand. The Legal Aid Authority must develop
their image so that the poor regard it as one of their ally and law must be made to work
for the poor and not against them so that the transformation of equal access to justice is
complete from a formal tool to an effective right. The Legal Aid Authorities must work
to provide a buffer mitigating the consequences of inequalities where yawning economy
and social disparities segregate the disadvantaged sections into the areas of criminality
and illegality and further disable them engaging with the process that enmesh the
Criminal Justice System.

“No Society can develop without peace and Security

No State can be Secure, if its people are condemned to poverty without hope,
And
No nation can be secure or prosperous for long, if the basic rights of its citizens are not
protected.”

54
 CHAPTER 4

ROLE OF PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION IN LEGAL AID

SERVICES

1. Importance in Legal Aid movement

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has attained much significance than anticipated as
against the traditional and conventional litigations. It is a strategic arm of the legal aid
movement which is intended to bring justice within the reach of the poor masses, who
constitute the low visibility area of humanity and is a totally different kind of litigation which
is essentially of an adversary character where there is a dispute between two litigating parties,
one making claim or seeking relief against the other and that other opposing such claim or
resisting such relief.
PIL is brought before the court not for the purpose of enforcing the right of one
individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to
promote and vindicate public interest which demands that violations of constitutional or legal
rights of large numbers of people who are poor, ignorant or in a socially or economically
disadvantaged position should not go unnoticed and unredressed. That would be destructive
of the rule of law which forms one of the essential elements of public interest in any
democratic form of government. The rule of law does not mean that the protection of the law
must be available only to a fortunate few or that the law should be allowed to be prostituted
by the vested interests for protecting and upholding the status quo under the guise of
enforcement of their civil and political rights. The poor too have civil and political rights and
the rule of law is meant for them also, though today it exists only on paper and not in reality.38
It is through PIL that the problems of the poor are now coming to the forefront and the
entire theatre of the law is changing. It holds out great possibilities for the future. Section 4(d)
of Legal Services Authorities Act also prescribe taking of necessary steps by way of social
justice litigation with regard to consumer protection, environmental protection or any other
matter of special concern to the weaker sections, of the society by the Central Authority i.e.
NALSA. State Authorities also can take similar steps in this regard by filing PIL for the
benefit of public at large. Further, Regulation 4(2) of the Delhi Legal Services Authority

38
People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 1473

55
Regulation, 2002 inter-alia provides that the state authority may itself file PIL or may finance
PIL before appropriate courts in the state, if it is satisfied that such litigation is for the general
benefit of a large body or class of persons who cannot by themselves take recourse to law due
to penury, illiteracy or other similar reasons. Similar provisions as above are contained in the
regulations framed by various other states authorities also.
PIL is essentially a co-operative or collaborative effort on the part of the petitioner,
the state or public authority and the court to secure observance of the constitutional or legal
rights, benefits and privileges conferred upon the vulnerable sections of the community and
to reach social justice to them. The state or public authority against whom PIL is brought
should be as much interested in ensuring basic human rights, constitutional as well as legal,
to those who are in a socially and economically disadvantaged position, as the petitioner who
brings the public interest litigation before the court. The state or public authority which is
arrayed as a respondent in PIL should in fact, welcome it, as it would give it an opportunity to
right a wrong or to redress an injustice done to the poor and weaker sections of the
community whose welfare is and must be the prime concern of the state or the public
authority. There is a misconception in the minds of some lawyers, journalists and individuals
in public life that PIL is unnecessarily cluttering up the files of the Court and adding to the
already staggering arrears of cases which are pending for long years and it should not
therefore be encouraged by the Court. It is true that there are large arrears pending in the
Courts but, that cannot be any reason for denying access to justice to the poor and weaker
sections of the community. The time has now come when the courts must become the courts
for the poor and struggling masses of this country. They must shed their character as
upholders of the established order and the status quo. They must be sensitized to the need of
doing justice to the large masses of people to whom justice has been denied by a cruel and
heartless society for generations.39

2. A tool to access to justice

PIL is a major tool in bringing about both institutional and law reforms even while it
enabled easy access to the judicial system for the poor. In PIL vigilant citizens of the country
can find an inexpensive legal remedy because there is only a nominal fixed court fee involved
in this. Further, through the so-called PIL, the litigants can focus attention on and achieve
results pertaining to larger public issues, especially in the fields of human rights, consumer
39
People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 1473

56
welfare and environment.
Although the proceedings in the Supreme Court arise out of the judgments or orders
made by the subordinate courts including the High Courts, but of late the Supreme Court has
started entertaining matters in which interest of the public at large is involved. A case can be
moved by any individual or group of persons either by filing a writ petition at the filing
counter of the court or by addressing a letter to the Chief Justice of India highlighting the
question of public importance for invoking this jurisdiction. Such concept is popularly known
as 'Public Interest Litigation' and several matters of public importance have become landmark
cases. This concept is unique to the Supreme Court of India only and perhaps no other court
in the world has been exercising this extraordinary jurisdiction. A writ petition filed at the
filing counter is dealt with like any other writ petition and processed as such. In case of a
letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India the same is dealt with in accordance with the
guidelines framed for the purpose.
The scheme of the Legal Services Authorities Act and the Regulations framed there
under thus make it clear that the functions of the State Legal Services Authorities are not
limited to framing and monitoring legal aid programmes or to encourage and expedite
settlement of disputes through legal aid and lok Adalats, legal literacy and legal awareness
programmes only. The role of the authority extends to taking steps by way of social justice
litigation with regard to the following:—

 Consumer Protection;
 Environmental Protection; and
 Matters of special concern of the weaker sections of the society.

Section 4(d) of the Act makes it clear that the social justice litigation with regard to the above
matters is one of the functions of the central authority. In the same spirit, regulations framed
by the state authorities authorize them to file PIL for the general benefit of the poorer and less
fortunate sections of the society who are unable by themselves to do so.
These PIL take form of either a letter addressed by the Member Secretary of the Legal
Services Authorities to the Chief Justice of India or in the form of a formal petition filed by
the Member Secretary/Executive Chairperson of the State Legal Services Authority before
the superior courts. Thus, the topic of ‘PIL’ cannot be viewed in isolation with the role of the
Legal Services Authorities and both of them are interlinked together.
One of the important facets of criminal jurisprudence and rights of prisoners while in
57
custody evolved through such a mechanism when the Executive Chairman, Legal Aid
Services Authority, West Bengal addressed a letter to Chief Justice of India on 26 August,
1986 drawing the attention of Chief Justice of India to certain news items published in
newspapers ‘The Telegraph’, ‘Statesman’ and in the ‘Indian Express’ regarding deaths in
police lock-ups in custody. The Executive Chairman after reproducing the news items
submitted that it was imperative to examine the issue in depth and to develop jurisprudence
and formulate modalities for awarding compensation to the victims and/or family members of
the victim for atrocities and deaths caused in police custody and to provide for accountability
of the officers concerned. It was also stated in the letter that efforts are often made to hush up
the matter of lock up deaths and thus, the crime goes unpunished and flourishes. The
Executive Chairman requested that the letter along with news items be treated as a writ
petition under PIL category.
The Supreme Court acting upon the said letter gave the landmark judgment which was
later on came to be known as D. K. Basu v. State of West Bengal,40 clearly issuing guidelines
which were to be followed by police officials while arresting a person and during the custody.
The guidelines inter alia provided as hereunder:—
(1) The police personnel carrying out the arrest and handling the interrogation of the
arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with
their designations. The particulars of all such police personnel who handle
interrogation of the arrestee must be recorded in a register.
(2) That the police officer carrying out the arrest of the arrestee shall prepare a
memo of arrest at the time of arrest and such memo shall be attested by at
least one witness, who may either be a member of the family of the arrestee or a
respectable person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be
countersigned by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest.
(3) A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in a
police station or interrogation centre or other lock-up, shall be entitled to have
one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in his
welfare being informed, as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is
being detained at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of the memo
of arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee.
(4) The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified by
the police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside the
40
(1997) 1 SCC 416.

58
 district or town through the Legal Aid Organization in the District and the police
station of the area concerned telegraphically within a period of 8 to 12 hours
after the arrest.
(5) The person arrested must be made aware of this right to have someone informed
of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or is detained.
(6) An entry must be made in the diary at the place of detention regarding the arrest
of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person
who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars of the police
officials in whose custody the arrestee is.
(7) The arrestee should, where he so requests, be also examined at the time of his
arrest and major and minor injuries, if any present on his/her body, must be
recorded at that time. The “Inspection Memo” must be signed both by the
arrestee and the police officer effecting the arrest and its copy provided to the
arrestee.
(8) The arrestee should be subjected to medial examination by a trained doctor
every 48 hours during his detention in custody by a doctor on the panel of
approved doctors appointed by Director, Health Services of the State or Union
territory concerned. Director, Health Services should prepare such a panel for
all Tehsils and Districts as well.
(9) Copies of all the documents including the memo of arrest, referred to above,
should be sent to the Illaqa Magistrate for his record.
(10) The arrestee may be permitted to meet his lawyer during interrogation, though
not throughout the interrogation.
(11) A police control room should be provided at all district and state headquarters,
where information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee
shall be communicated by the officer causing the arrest, within 12 hours of
effecting the arrest and at the police control room it should be displayed on a
conspicuous notice board.

3. A Conceptual Background
Litigation as perceived in the Indian context and Indian parlance has always been seen
to be that a person who has a grievance and a complaint against another person seeks access
to justice and approaches the forum for vindication of his rights and for redressal of his

59
complaint seeking relief for his grievance. The forum, however, has varied from time to time.
Earlier these were Panchayats in a village set up which used to deliver justice to the
individual who was having a grievance against another individual. Subsequently, the concept
of Panchayat gave way to courts and courts started justice delivery system and developed its
mechanism. Still the parties in a justice delivery system remained individuals and litigation
was thought to be a apportionment of rights and duties between two individuals most of the
times.
With the change of time and the change of government from laissez faire era to the
modern welfare era, the entry of government in different departments and undertaking of the
social welfare projects by the government gave way to the development of a situation where
government also became per-force one of the litigating parties against the individual or
individuals and people were perforce made to seek redressal of their grievances against the
government. With the change of times, a situation came that government was one of the most
litigating parties in different forum at respective levels.
For some section of the societies, however, the situation remained as it is. There was no
change in their perception of justice and there was no novelty in their living and their lives
remained more or less of a ‘status quo phase’ and they just dreamt of an improvement in their
living conditions or enforcement of their legal rights and it was just a mirage for them that at
one point of time they would also be in a position to fight for their rights and seek redressal
for their grievances. The basic reason behind this was that most of the time they were
unorganized and were belonging to such lower strata of the society that litigation was a
luxury for them. They were educationally and economically so backward that they could not
dare to question the wrongs committed by person sitting on a higher pedestal than them in the
social set up and against the government or people in the higher echelons of society.
The succour for these persons came in the form of Justice P. N. Bhagwati. Justice P. N.
Bhagwati who later became Chief Justice of India, in active collaboration and support with
Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court, consciously thought about these classes of persons
and ingenuously developed the theory of ‘PIL’. Justice P. N. Bhagwati and Justice Krishna
Iyer, who both were the active proponents of this theory thought that a certain class of
persons was being deprived of their legitimate and genuine rights simply because they were
not having any access to justice dispensing mechanism. They both were of the opinion that
most of the people in India where 80% of the population lives in villages are hard-pressed to
meet both their ends and are living a hand to mouth life and they could not afford to present a
petition before the Supreme Court located in the National Capital, Delhi which is quite often
60
far away from their villages and village headquarters. It was with this background that the
theory of ‘Public Interest Litigation’ was developed as opposed to ‘Private Interest
Litigation’.
The two Judges developed the theory and mechanism for dispensing justice to the hard-
pressed and down-trodden people belonging to the lower strata of the society and they started
treating the letters or postcards sent by these persons as petitions. The formalities of proper
filing of the petition/case before the Registry of the Supreme Court, court fees, prior service
etc. upon the opposite party-all were dispensed with and the simple postcard which during
those time was available for a cost of paisa 15 only was treated a Writ Petition and was taken
up for consideration and hearing by the Supreme Court actively led by Justice P. N. Bhagwati
and notices were issued to the respondents against whom the relief was sought by the persons
who had petitioned the Supreme Court by writing a simple letter. All procedural complexities
were done away with and a simple method of treating letters as writ petition was developed
by the Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court and the PIL theory was thus conceived.
The recent trend has also developed where the judges acting on a newspaper report or a
news item in television take suo moto cognizance of the miseries being suffered by a
particular class of persons and immediately issue notice and register the newspaper item or
the media report as writ petition and list the same for regular hearing in the registry before the
bench and seek compliance of the directions being issued from time to time.
4. Essentials
The phrase PIL was used by Justice Krishna Iyer way back in 1982 in the Fertilizer
Corporation Kamgar Union v. Union of India41 case and he termed it as “epistolary
jurisdiction”. ‘PIL’ means a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of
public interest or general interest in which the public or class of the community have
pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. A PIL
can be filed only in a case where “Public Interest” at large is effected. Merely because, only
one person is affected by state inaction is not a ground for PIL.
The Council for Public Interest Law set up by the Ford Foundation in USA defined
the “PIL” in its report of Public Interest Law USA, 1976 as follows:-

Public Interest Law is the name that has recently been given to
efforts provide legal representation to previously unrepresented
groups and interests. Such efforts have been undertaken in the
41
1981 (1) SCC 468: AIR 1981 SC 344.

61
 recognition that ordinary market place for legal services fails to
provide such services to significant segments of the population and
to significant interests. Such groups and interests include the proper
environmentalists, consumers, racial and ethnic minorities and
others.

Earlier it was only a person whose interest and fundamental right was directly affected along
with others, who used to file such litigation. Now the trend has changed, and, any public-
spirited person can file a PIL on behalf of a group of a person, whose rights are effected. It is
not necessary, that person filing a case should have a direct interest in this PIL. For example,
a person in Bombay, can file a PIL for, some labour workers being exploited in Madhya
Pradesh or as someone filed a PIL in Supreme Court for taking action against cracker factory
in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, for employing child labour or the case where a standing practising
lawyer filed a PIL challenging a government policy to transfer High Court Judges and
similarly a lawyer filed a PIL for release of 80 under trials in a jail, who had spent more
number of years in jail, than the maximum period prescribed as punishment for offence, for
which they were tried.
It is thus clear that, any person, can file a PIL on behalf of group of affected people.
However, it will depend on the facts of each and every case as to whether it should be
allowed or not.
A PIL can be filed only against a state/ central government, municipal authorities, and
not against any private party. However “private party” can be included in the PIL as
“Respondent”, after making concerned state authority, a party. For example, if there is a
private factory in Delhi, which is causing pollution, then people living nearby or any other
person can file a PIL against:

 Government of Delhi.
 State Pollution Control Board, and
 Also against the private factory owner

However, a PIL can not be filed against the private party alone and concerned state
government/and state authority has to be made a party.

5. Reliefs

62
A lot of debate has been going on in recent times as to what are the reliefs which can be
granted or rather which should granted by a superior Court (High Court or Supreme Court)
while dealing with a PIL. There have been instances when an entire fleet of smoke-splitting
diesel, fleet of buses operating as public transport in Delhi were converted to CNG through
the force of a judicial order passed in the PIL titled as M.C. Mehta v. Union of India42 and
there has been instances where almost all of Delhi was sealed and entire block of illegal
constructions and properties built in contravention of masterplan were ordered to be
demolished/ sealed, also through an order passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court in a “PIL’ titled
as M.C. Mehta v. Union of India.43
The Court may adopt different mechanism to grant relief to the litigative parties in a
PIL and court can appoint a high-powered committee to enforce various guidelines and
directions issued by court at different stages during the hearing of the said PIL and seek a
compliance report from the said high-powered committee about its orders. This mechanism
of high-powered Committee was recently followed by Hon'ble Supreme Court by the
appointment of a Monitoring Committee to seek the compliance and enforcement of various
directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India from time to time in the Delhi
sealing case. Apart from the appointment of high-powered committee, the court can adopt
the mechanism of Court Commissioner and appoint Court Commissioners for the compliance
of the orders and seek compliance report and status report from them at different stages of the
said litigation.
This procedure was followed by Justice Vijender Jain of the Delhi High Court in the
litigation pertaining to the demolition of unauthorized constructions in Delhi. The Division
Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma appointed Court Commissioners for
various regions in Delhi where the illegal construction was rampant and was going on in
different properties falling in various zones spread over the entire length and breadth of Delhi
despite directions/orders from the M.C.D./High Court to demolish the same. It was felt that
the orders passed by the Courts were being flouted with impunity in connivance and
conspiracy between the MCD officials and the offending parties who were caring too hoots
for the Court’s order. This compelled the Court to seek the genuine on the spot assessment of
the ground reality. A need was therefore felt to appoint senior advocates who would be above
all the greed and influence having impeccable integrity as Court Commissioners to assist the

42
AIR 2001 SC 1948 : 2001(2) SCR 698
43
AIR 2006 SC 1325 : 2006 (2) SCR 264

63
Court and to become the eyes and ears of the Courts and to present before the Court the
ground reality and the situation as existing at the site and the extent of illegal construction, if
any, at the site and the consequent demolition order of the illegal construction were passed
and the compliance of the Court orders was ensured through the mechanism of Court
Commissioners.44
The grant of relief may, at times, include awarding compensation for state oppression
and mismanagement and for different acts of omissions and commissions done by the
employees and officials of the State against the steps of the State. The nature of relief may
also include mandatory or prohibiting order asking government agencies to do or not to do
any particular act or omission. The moot point to be remembered still remains that the reliefs
are for the benefit of public at large and for a community and most of the times they cater to
the needs of a large number of people as distinguished from a single individual, for a single
organization.
The Supreme Court has entertained PIL for curbing the environmental degradation
and deterioration in the general outlook of beauty of Taj Mahal due to increased pollution
levels and due to construction of a Corridor just behind Taj Mahal which caused enormous
damage to scenic beauty of Taj Mahal and has issued sufficient guidelines to stop the
construction of Taj Corridor as well as initiated criminal prosecution against the persons in-
charge who were instrumental in initiating the Taj Corridor Project as per decision of
Supreme Court in case M.C. Mehta v. Union of India.45
Another innovative example of the exercise of discretionary powers vested in the
higher judiciary (High Court or Supreme Court) while entertaining the PIL is manifested in
the directions issued by the High Court which were upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court,
for relocation of the Milk Dairies which were causing a lot of trouble to the inhabitants of the
localities (Jodhpur city) where these dairies were located. In Milkmen Colony Vikas Samiti v.
State of Rajasthan.46 The Supreme Court observed in the said case (Supra) that the menace of
stray cattle has reached a state where the entire planning of the city has gone haywire and
creating a lot of nuisance for the citizens and all this had happened at the cost of the health
and decent living of the city residents violating their rights under Article 21 and the directions
issued by the High Court to shift the Milk Dairies and relocate the same to other areas in the
44
Kaltyan Sanstha v. Union of India Writ Petition no. 4582/2003 and others connected writs
45
2001 (9) SCC 235 and AIR 2004 SC 800
46
(2007) 2 SCC 413

64
city were held to be correct and in the interest of justice.
Another leading example of the use of exercise of the judicial power for the correction
of the general state of affairs and an area of concern for environment and the steps to control
the environmental pollution as well as to improve upon the overall ambience is the initiative
taken by their Lordships of the Hon'ble Supreme Court directing the concerned
authorities/state governments to take steps to undue damage done by the unscrupulous
visitors to the hill-stations and hill resorts by engraving their names on the rocks on the
National Highway which ruins the entire climate and shortens the life of the precious
structures and adds to the perpetual deterioration of the general flora and fauna.47
The Supreme Court also stepped in to control and relocate the hazardous industries
operating in the residential areas of Delhi and in the landmark case of M.C. Mehta v. Union
of India,48 Supreme Court ordered that all industries operating within the residential realm of
the city limits be relocated to industrial area at the outer limits of the city so as to obviate any
environmental pollution and to make overall improvement in the general life standards of the
residents of the city.
In another significant case Parmanand Katara v. Union of India49 Supreme Court was
aghast at the attitude of the hospitals which did not provide any first aid facilities to the
injured who were brought at their doorsteps, insisting sheepishly on first completing the
financial formalities and in that categorical judgment, the Supreme Court held that it is the
paramount obligation of every member of medical profession to give medical aid to every
injured citizen as soon as possible without waiting for any procedural formalities.
In an another important ruling Nihal Singh v. State of Punjab,50 the Punjab and
Haryana High Court quashed the provisions of jail manuals dividing the prisoners into A, B,
and C classes, acting upon a PIL Petition and held that there cannot be any classification of
convicts on the basis of their social status, education or habit of living.
In a significant case, the Supreme Court stepped in when it was touched by the
inhuman conditions of the burns ward of the Safdarjung Hospital where after the Diwali fire,
the patients were made to suffer in the open wards despite being burnt to the extent of 90%
and against the medical ethics which require that such types of patients should be segregated

47
Sushanta Tagore vs. Union of India AIR 2005 SC 1975
48
1996 (4) SCC 351
49
AIR 1989 SC 2039
50
2000 Crl. L. J. 3298

65
exclusively in air-conditioned wards and there should be not even the slightest of infections
in such rooms. Supreme Court issued certain guidelines for the improvement of the general
conditions of the burns ward which led to the improvement of the overall ambience and better
health safeguards and safety norms for the victims of the burnt injuries suffering from burns.
Many statutes allow courts to grant specific remedies in a wide variety of
circumstances. While many of these remedies are similar to those available in the general
law, such as, injunction and declaratory relief, some statutes have created new forms of
reliefs e.g., under the environment protection laws. Where the proceedings relate to a matter
arising under the Constitution or involving its interpretation or arising under an enactment or
are against the government or other public authority, relief in PIL would be in the nature of a
statutory remedy similar to remedy available on judicial review and prerogative writs, and by
way of a declaration or an injunction. Litigation will only fall in the category of PIL if the
remedies sought are in ‘public’ in nature such as the high prerogative writs. The petitioners
may seek in a PIL a declaration that a particular statue is unconstitutional or that a rule or
regulation is invalid. They may seek an injunction to restrain a public authority from acting in
excess of its statutory powers. Number of instances can be found from various decisions of
Supreme Court and High Courts, where PILs were entertained in highly effective manner to
do better for public at large. However, in brief some of the powers which can be used by the
courts are as summed up as under;

(a) Writs of prohibition and certiorari lie on behalf of any person who is a ‘person
aggrieved’ and that includes any person whose interest may be prejudicially affected
by what is taking place. It does not include a mere busy body that is interfering in
things which do not concern him; but it includes any person who has a genuine
grievance because something has been done which affects him.51 Where the applicant
is not an aggrieved person, the court may be less inclined to exercise its discretion to
confer standing on such petitioner. If the defect of jurisdiction is not patent, the court
will exercise its discretion to refuse an application made by a ‘stranger’ who cannot
make out a strong, prima facie, case or the court considers that no good would be
done to the public. Persons who are aggrieved, that is, those whose legal rights have
been infringed or who have any other substantial interest in impugning an order may
be awarded certiorari as a matter of right. In special circumstances, however, a court
51
R v. Liverpool Corporation, ex parte Liverpool Taxi Fleet Operators’ Association, [1972] 2 QB 299, 308-9
(Lord Denning MR) 1 WLR 550, 558-9, 564, 567.

66
 may also exercise its discretion in favour of an applicant who was not a person
aggrieved.
(b) An order of mandamus is an order, from the court which requires the performance of
a public duty or the exercise of a discretion according to law on the part of a public
authority. The writ of mandamus is a judicial command compelling the respondent to
perform its duty. The order, however, cannot direct the manner in which the duty will
be performed, although the reasons given for the order will usually guide the
concerned officials. When any order/direction in nature of judicial command is sought
in a PIL, it is important for the court to consider the nature of the duty and the persons
to whom it is owned. In many cases the nature of the duty itself will disclose that it is,
prima facie, owed to a certain person or class of persons, for example, residents of a
local authority. Persons outside the class may be extended standing only if the duty
imposed on the public official or authority is for the general public good. Thus, a
resident of London, had standing, as a concerned member of the public, to seek
mandamus compelling the Commissioner of Police to withdraw a directive instructing
non-enforcement of gaming laws.52 If the exercise of the official duty has impact on
public rights, failure to exercise duty affecting public interest would justify issuance
of mandamus in a PIL, but, if the act or omission has no impact on any collective
legal rights which involve public interest the PIL should not be entertained for
mandamus.
(c) The writ of habeas corpus is a means of safeguarding individual liberty and it is a
remedy to secure release of a person wrongfully detained. It has always been accepted
that, anyone may seek the remedy when a person is held incommunicado. The writ of
quo warranto can be issued in PIL involving determination of the validity of
appointments to offices of a public nature and may be used, for instance, to test which
of the two rival claimants is the lawful appointee. In England, it has been replaced by
a form of statutory injunction by section 9 of Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act, 1938.
(d) The question of infringements of public rights can arise in cases relating to—
a) constitutional validity of legislation;
b) excess of power by a public body or a quasi-public undertaking;
c) breach of statutory provisions enacted for the benefit and protection of the

52
R v. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, ex parte Blackburn (No. 1) [1968] 2 QB 118.

67
 public;
d) public nuisance222; and
e) prevention of criminal offences, enforcement of mandatory public duties, and
such other categories as are recognized by law or judicial decisions.

(e) When a private individual wishes to bring an action for an injunction or declaration to
enforce public rights, the relief may be granted only if right of a class to which that
person belongs has been simultaneously interfered with.

6. Pitfalls
The theory of PIL which got conceived way back in the late 80’s and by now has
become the grown up adult child who is also demanding its share and price. This world is
very cruel and nothing is free in this world. The concept of PIL has also got certain lows
despite there being several highs and it has got certain crests as well as certain troughs.
At the time of independence, court procedure was drawn from the Anglo-Saxon system
of jurisprudence. The bulk of citizens were unaware of their legal rights and much less in a
position to assert them. As a result, there was hardly any link between the rights guaranteed
by the Constitution of Indian, Union and the laws made by the Legislature on the one hand
and the vast majority of illiterate citizens on the other. However, this scenario gradually
changed when the post emergency Supreme Court tackled the problem of access to justice by
people through radical changes and alterations made in the requirements of locus standi and
of party aggrieved. Prior to 1980s, only the aggrieved party could personally knock the doors
of justice and seek remedy for his grievance and any other person who was not personally
affected could not knock the doors of justice as a proxy for the victim or the aggrieved party.
PIL as it has developed in recent years marks a significant departure from traditional judicial
proceedings. The court is now seen as an institution not only reaching out to provide relief to
citizens but even venturing into formulation of policy which the state must follow.
The splendid efforts of Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer were
instrumental of this juristic revolution of eighties to convert the apex court of India into a
Supreme Court for all Indians.
PIL has been an invaluable innovative judicial remedy. It has translated the rhetoric of
fundamental rights into living reality for at least some segments of our exploited and down-
trodden humanity. Under-trial prisoners languishing in jails for inordinately long periods,

68
inmates of asylums and care-homes living in sub-human conditions, children working in
hazardous occupations and similar disadvantaged sections got lots of benefits

But the development of PIL (PIL) in the country has uncovered its own pitfalls and
drawbacks. The genuine causes and cases of public interest have in fact receded to the
background and irresponsible PIL activists all over the country have started to play a major
but not a constructive role in the arena of litigation

A trend has been observed of late that the forum of PIL and the mechanism being evolved
by the judiciary to act as a beneficial measure and to provide succour to the down-trodden
and under-nourished sections of the society was being misused and the PIL was turning either
towards Private Interest Litigation or towards Publicity Interest Litigation. It was seen that
PILs were being filed either to settle a personal score particularly in service matters or to seek
cheap publicity and PIL was turning out to be a public gimmick. The Supreme Court opined
that the Court cannot be a silent and mute spectator to it and helplessly watch the erosion of
the institution of PIL.

Starting from the year 1998 in Dr. Duryodhan Sahu and ors. v. Jitender Kumar Mishra,53
Supreme Court held that in service matters PIL should not be entertained. The least, the High
Courts could do is to throw them out

53
1998 (4) SCALE 643

69
.
In Neetu v. State of Punjab54 Supreme Court deliberated upon the question of locus
standi to file PIL particularly in the matter of service of an employee. The Court held:
The scope of entertaining a petition styled as a public interest
litigation and locus standi of the petitioner particularly in matters
involving service of an employee has been examined by this court
in various cases. The Court has be to satisfied about (a) the
credentials of the applicant; (b) the prima facie correctness or
nature of information given by him (c) the information being not
vague and indefinite. The information should show gravity and
seriousness involved. Court has to strike a balance between two
conflicting interest; (i) nobody should be allowed to indulge in
wild and reckless allegations besmirching the character of others;
and (ii) avoidance of public mischief and to avoid mischievous
petitions seeking to assail, for oblique motives, justifiable
executive actions. In such cases, however, the court cannot afford
to be liberal. It has to be extremely careful to see that under the
guise of redressing a public grievance, it does not encroach upon
the sphere reserved by the Constitution to the Executive and the
Legislature. The Court has to act ruthlessly while dealing with
imposters and busy bodies or meddlesome interlopers
impersonating as public-spirited holy men. They masquerade as
crusaders of justice. They pretend to act in the name of Pro Bono
Publico, though they have no interest of the public or even of their
own to protect.
Courts must do justice by promotion of good faith, and
prevent law from crafty invasions. Courts must maintain the social
balance by interfering where necessary for the sake of justice and
refuse to interfere where it is against the social interest and public
good.
As noted supra, a time has come to weed out the petitions,
which though titled as public interest litigations are in essence
something else. It is shocking to note that Courts are flooded with
54
2007 (1) SCALE 168

70
 large number of so called public interest litigations. Though the
parameters of public interest litigation have been indicated by this
Court in large number of cases, yet unmindful of the real intentions
and objectives, High Courts are entertaining such petitions and
wasting valuable judicial time which, as noted above, could be
otherwise utilized for disposal of genuine cases.

In another matter titled Pramod Kumar and Another v. Bihar Vyavasayik Sangharsh
Morcha,55 the Division Bench of Dr. Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice Altamas Kabir, in a
matter involving directions pertaining to the tenure of posting of police officers, opined that
High Courts must restrain themselves while issuing directions in PILs when the matter is
specifically covered by a legislation (Bihar Police Act, 2007) which was enacted to give
effect to the directions of Supreme Court in Prakash Singh v. Union of India 56 and the
directions of High Court were set aside.
In another important matter titled Vishwanath Chaturvedi v. Union of India, 57 the
Court drew a distinction between PIL and the Private Interest Litigation and stated that the
test which one has to apply to decide the maintainability of the PIL concerns sufficiency of
the petitioner’s interest. The petitioner’s interest can only be judged by looking into the
subject matter of his complaint and if the petitioner shows failure of public duty, the Court
would be in error in dismissing the PIL. The issue was regarding the locus standi of a General
Secretary of Congress Party in filing a PIL to demand investigation and inquiry into the
disproportionate assets allegedly being possessed by Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Court held
that simply because Sh. Vishwanath Chaturvedi happens to be an active member of Congress
and Office In-charge of a Humanitarian Aid and Redressal Public Grievance Cell will not
ipso facto make the said PIL politically tainted and coloured. PIL was therefore entertained.
In Ramjas Foundation v. Union of India58 and K.R. Srinivas v. P.M. Premchand,59
Supreme Court held “A writ petitioner who comes to the Court for relief in public interest
must come not only with clean hands like any other writ petitioner but also with a clean heart,
55
(2007) 7 SCC Page 659
56
(2006) 8 SCC 1
57
2007 (3) SCALE 714
58
AIR 1993 SC 852
59
1994 (6) SCC 620

71
clean mind and clean objective”.
In Udyami Evan Khadi Gramodog Welfare Sanstha v. State of U.P., 60 the Division
Bench of Supreme Court held that a writ remedy is an equitable one and a person
approaching a superior court must come with a pair of clean hands. It not only should not
suppress any material fact, but also should not take recourse to the legal proceedings over and
over again which amounts to abuse of the process of law.
In another significant case titled as Allahabad Ladies Club v. Jitendra Nath Singh61
Division Bench of Supreme Court disagreed with the line of action taken by Allahabad High
Court in a PIL which was filed with a grievance that the park known as Company Bagh
ceased to be a park and illegal leases have been granted and constructions have been put up in
violation of the Act. The Supreme Court held that High Court has unnecessarily enlarged the
scope of the writ petition, although it was permissible to take note of the necessary and
connected matters in a PIL but since the challenge was not to the grant of the lease, the High
Court was not justified in enlarging the scope of the writ petition.
In the Janta Dal v. H.S. Choudhary,62 Supreme Court in Para 52 defined Public
Interest –“The expression 'litigation' means a legal action including all proceedings therein
initiated in a Court of law for the enforcement of right or seeking a remedy. Therefore,
lexically the expression "PIL" means the legal action initiated in a Court of law for the
enforcement of public interest or general interest in which the public or a class of the
community have pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities
are affected. These observations were reiterated by Supreme Court in K.R. Srinivas v. P.M.
Premchand.63
In another case, National Council for Civil Liberties v. Union of India 64 which
pertained to the allegations against Medha Patkar who was heading the Narmada Bachao
Andolan, the Division Bench of the Supreme Court of India held that the facts indicates
clearly that the writ petition has been filed out of grudge harboured by the President of
Petitioner organization against Medha Patkar and appears to be a private interest litigation to
discredit and diffuse the agitation undertaken by Narmada Bachao Andolan for rehabilitation
60
2007(13) SCALE 686
61
2007(4) Scale Page 541
62
1992 (4) SCC 305
63
1994 (6) SCC 620
64
(2007) 6 SCC 506

72
of the displaced persons from the dam site before submergence of their habitat and the
petition was therefore dismissed.
In another case, Holicow Pictures Pvt. Ltd. v. Prem Chandra Mishra65 Supreme Court
held that when there is material in the PIL to show that a petition styled as a PIL is nothing
but a camouflage to foster personal disputes, the said petition is to be thrown out. The
Supreme Court held:
--Public Interest Litigation which has now come to occupy
an important field in the administration of law should not be
“Publicity interest litigation” or “private interest litigation”
or “politics interest litigation” or the latest trend “paise
income litigation”. If not properly regulated and abuse
averted, it becomes also a tool in unscrupulous hands to
release vendetta and wreck vengeance, as well.
---There must be real and genuine public interest involved
in the litigation and not merely an adventure of knight errant
borne out of wishful thinking. It cannot also be invoked by
a person or a body of persons to further his or their personal
causes or satisfy his or their personal grudge and enmity.
Courts of justice should not be allowed to be polluted by
unscrupulous litigants by resorting to the extraordinary
jurisdiction. A person acting bona fide and having sufficient
interest in the proceeding of public interest litigation will
alone have a locus standi and can approach the Court to
wipe out violation of fundamental rights and genuine
infraction of statutory provisions, but not for personal gain
or private profit or political motive or any oblique
consideration.
---It is depressing to note that on account of such trumpery
proceedings initiated before the Courts, innumerable days
are wasted, the time which otherwise could have been spent
for disposal of cases of the genuine litigants. Though we
spare no efforts in fostering and developing the laudable
concept of PIL and extending our long arm of sympathy to
65
2007 (14) SCALE 10

73
the poor, the ignorant, the oppressed and the needy, whose
fundamental rights are infringed and violated and whose
grievances go unnoticed, un-represented and unheard; yet
we cannot avoid but express our opinion that while genuine
litigants with legitimate grievances relating to civil matters
involving properties worth hundreds of millions of rupees
and criminal cases in which persons sentenced to death
facing gallows under untold agony and persons sentenced to
life imprisonment and kept in incarceration for long years,
persons suffering from undue delay in service matters-
government or private, persons awaiting the disposal of
cases wherein huge amounts of public revenue or
unauthorized collection of tax amounts are locked up,
detenus expecting their release from the detention orders
etc. etc. are all standing in a long serpentine queue for years
with the fond hope of getting into the Courts and having
their grievances redressed, the busybodies, meddlesome
interlopers, wayfarers or officious interveners having
absolutely no public interest except for personal gain or
private profit either of themselves or as a proxy of others or
for any other extraneous motivation or for glare of publicity
break the queue muffing their faces by wearing the mask of
public interest litigation and get into the Courts by filing
vexatious and frivolous petitions and thus criminally waste
the valuable time of the Courts and as a result of which the
queue standing outside the doors of the Courts never moves,
which piquant situation creates frustration in the minds of
the genuine litigants and resultantly they loose faith in the
administration of our judicial system.
--Public interest litigation is a weapon which has to be used
with great care and circumspection and the judiciary has to
be extremely careful to see that behind the beautiful veil of
public interest an ugly private malice, vested interest and/or
publicity seeking is not lurking. It is to be used as an
74
effective weapon the armory of law for delivering social
justice to the citizens. The attractive brand name of the
public interest litigation should not be used for suspicious
products of mischief. It should be aimed at redressal of
genuine public wrong or public injury and not publicity
oriented or founded on personal vendetta. As indicated
above, Court must be careful to see that a body of persons
or member of public, who approaches the court is acting
bona fide and not for personal gain or private motive or
political motivation or other oblique considerations. The
Court must not allow its process to be abused for oblique
considerations by masked phantoms who monitor at times
from behind. Some persons with vested interest indulge in
the pastime of meddling with judicial process either by
force of habit or from improper motives, and try to bargain
for a good deal as well to enrich themselves. Often they are
actuated by a desire to win notoriety or cheap popularity.
The petitions of such busy bodies deserve to be thrown out
by rejection at the threshold, and in appropriate cases with
exemplary costs.
---The Court has to be satisfied about (a) the credentials of
the applicant; (b) the prima facie correctness or nature of
information given by him; (c) the information being not
vague and indefinite. The information should show gravity
and seriousness involved. Court has to strike balance
between two conflicting interests; (i)nobody should be
allowed to indulge in wile and reckless allegations
besmirching the character of other; and (ii)avoidance of
public mischief and to avoid mischievous petitions seeking
the assail, for oblique motives, justifiable executive actions.
---In such case, however, the Court cannot afford to be
liberal. It has to be extremely careful to see that under the
guise of redressing a public grievance, it does not encroach
upon the sphere reserved by the Constitution to the
75
 Executive and the Legislature. The Court has to act
ruthlessly while dealing with impostors and busybodies or
meddlesome interlopers impersonating as public-spirited
holy men. They masquerade as crusaders of justice. They
pretend to act in the name of Pro-Bobo Publico, though they
have no interest of the public or even of their own to
protect.

In State of Maharashtra v. Prabha,66 Supreme Court held Courts must do justice by

promotion of good faith, and prevent law from crafty invasions. Courts must maintain the
social balance by interfering where necessary for the sake of justice and refuse to interfere
where it is against the social interest and public good.

In Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation v. M/s. GAR Re-Rolling Mills,67

Supreme Court held that no litigant has a right to unlimited drought on the Court time and
public money in order to get his affairs settled in the manner as he wishes. Easy access to
justice should not be misused as a license to file misconceived and frivolous petitions.
As noted supra, a time has come to weed out the petitions, which though titled as PILs
are in essence something else. It is shocking to note that Courts are flooded with large
number of so called PILs where only a miniscule percentage can legitimately be called as
PILs. Though the parameters of PIL have been indicated by this Court in large number of
cases, yet unmindful of the real intentions and objectives, High Courts are entertaining such
petitions and wasting valuable judicial time which, as noted above, could be otherwise
utilized for disposal of genuine cases.
Of late, many of the PIL activists in the country have found the PIL as a handy tool of
harassment since frivolous cases could be filed without investment of heavy court fees as
required in private civil litigation and deals could then be negotiated with the victims of stay
orders obtained in the so-called PILs. Just as a weapon meant for defense can be used equally
effectively for offence, the lowering of the locus standi requirement has permitted privately
motivated interests to pose as public interests. The abuse of PIL has become more rampant
than its use and genuine causes either receded to the background or began to be viewed with
the suspicion generated by spurious causes mooted by privately motivated interests in the
66
1994 (2) SCC 48
67
AIR 1994 SC 2151

76
disguise of the so-called public interests.
Every matter of public interest cannot be the basis of a PIL, e.g., increase in the price of
onions or in railway fares or the dilapidated condition of railway stations or the Red Fort or
trains not running on time. Over the years, PIL has degenerated into Private Interest
Litigation, Political Interest Litigation, and above all, Publicity Interest Litigation. Weakness
for publicity affects Judges, lawyers and litigants alike.
The framers of Indian constitution did not incorporate a strict doctrine of separation of
powers but envisaged a system of checks and balances. Policy making and implementation of
policy are conventionally regarding as the exclusive domain of the executive and the
Legislature. The power of judicial review cannot be used by the court to usurp or abdicate the
powers of other organs. PIL in practice, however, tends to narrow the divide between the
roles of the various organs of government and has invited controversy principally for this
reason. The court has sometime even obliterated the distinction between law and policy. The
approach of the court in policy matters is to ask whether the implementation or non-
implementation of the policy results in a violation of fundamental rights. In M. C. Mehta v.
Union of India (supra), the court explained how despite the enactment of Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986, there had been a considerable decline in the quality of environment.
Any further delay in the performance of duty by the Central Government cannot, therefore,
be permitted. The court, however, required the Central Government to indicate what steps it
had taken thus far and also place before it the national policy for the protection of
environment.
The law and policy divide was obliterated in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan68 which was
a PIL Concerning sexual harassment of women at work place. A significant feature of this
decision was the court’s readiness to step in where the Legislature had not. The court declared
that till the Legislature enacted a law consistent with the convention of the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women which India was a signatory, the guidelines set out
by the court would be enforceable. However, in Delhi Science Forum v. Union of India,69
where the government of India telecommunication policy was challenged by a PIL, the court
refused to interfere with the matter on the ground that it concerned a question of policy.
The court may refuse to entertain a PIL if it finds that the issues raised are not within
the judicial ambit or capacity. A petition seeking directions to the government to preserve and

68
(1997) 6 SCC 241 : 1997 AIR SCW 3043: AIR 1997 S.C 3011
69
AIR 1996 SC 1356.

77
protect a particular Masjid or temple or Idgah is liable to be rejected. Despite such
observations the court has adopted a uniform and consistent approach in dealing with its
emerging role as policy maker. While in some cases, the court has expressed its reluctance to
step into the legislative field, in others it has laid down detailed guidelines and explicitly
formulated policy.
The flexibility of procedure that is a character of PIL has given rise to another set of
problems. It gives an opportunity to opposite parties to ascertain the precise allegation and
respond to specific issues. The PIL T.N. Godavarman v. Union of India70 relating to depletion
of forest cover is a case in point. The petition, as originally drafted and presented, pertained
to the arbitrary felling of Khair trees in Jammu and Kashmir. The PIL has now been enlarged
by the court to encompass all forests throughout India. Individual States, therefore, will not
be able to respond to the original pleading as such, since it may not concern them at all. The
reports given by court appointed commissioners raise problems regarding their evidentiary
value. No court can found its decision on facts unless they are proved according to law. This
implies the right of an adversary to test them by cross-examination or atleast counter-
affidavits. In such instances the affected parties may have misgivings about the role of the
court.
In the political arena too, the debate over the limits of judicial activism, particularity in
the field of PIL, has been vigorous. The attempt by the judiciary through PILs to enter the
area of policy making and policy implementation has caused concern in political circles. A
private members bill, entitled Public Interest Litigation (Regulation) Bill, 1996 was tabled in
Rajya Sabha. According to it the PIL was being grossly misused. Moreover, PIL cases were
being given priority over other cases, which had remained pending in the court for years. It
was urged that if a PIL petition failed or was shown to be mala fide the petitioner should be
put behind bars and pay the damages. Although the Bill lapsed, the debate in Parliament
revealed some of the criticism and suspicion that PIL had begun to attract.
The credibility of PIL process in now adversely affected by the criticism that the
judiciary is overstepping the boundaries of its jurisdiction and that it is unable to supervise
the effective implementation of its orders. It has also been increasingly felt that PIL is being
misused by the people agitating for private grievance in the grab of public interest and
seeking publicity rather than espousing public case. The judiciary has itself recognized and
articulated these concerns periodically. A further concern is that as the judiciary enters into

70
AIR 1998 SC 2553

78
the policy making arena it will have to fashion new remedies and mechanisms for ensuring
effective compliance with its orders. A judicial system can suffer no greater lack of credibility
than a perception that its order can be flouted with impunity. The court must refrain from
passing orders that cannot be enforced, whatever the fundamental right may be and however,
good the cause. It serves no purpose to issue some high profile mandamus or declaration that
can remain only on paper. Although usually the Supreme Court immediately passes interim
orders for relief, rarely is a final verdict given, and in most of the cases, the follow-up is poor.
To regulate the abuse of PIL the Apex Court itself has framed certain guidelines (to
govern the management and disposal of PILs.) The court must be careful to see that the
petitioner who approaches it is acting bona fide and not for personal gain, private profit or
political or other oblique consideration. The court should not allow its process to be abused
by politicians and others to delay legitimate administrative action or to gain political
objectives. At present, the court can treat a letter as a writ petition and take action upon it.
But, it is not every letter which may be treated as a writ petition by the court. The court
would be justified in treating the letter as a writ petition where the letter is addressed by—
(i) an aggrieved person, or
(ii) a public spirited individual, or
(iii) a social action group

for enforcement of the constitutional or the legal rights of a person in custody or of a class or
group of persons who by reason of poverty, disability or socially or economically
disadvantaged position find it difficult to approach the court for redress. Even though it is
very much essential to curb the misuse and abuse of PIL, any move by the government to
regulate the PIL results in widespread protests from those who are not aware of its abuse and
equate any form of regulation with erosion of their fundamental rights.
Public Interest Litigants fear that implementation of these suggestions will sound the
death-knell of the people friendly concept of PIL. However, it cannot be denied that PIL
activists should be responsible and accountable. It is also notable here that even the
Consumers Protection Act, 1986 has been amended to provide compensation to opposite
parties in cases of frivolous complaints made by consumers. PIL requires rethinking and
restructuring. Overuse and abuse of PIL will make it ineffective. PIL has translated the
rhetoric of fundamental rights into living reality for at least some segments of our exploited
and downtrodden humanity i.e. under trial prisoners languishing in jails for inordinately long
periods, inmates of asylums and care-homes living in sub-human conditions, children
79
working in hazardous occupations and similar disadvantaged sections. Hence, any change to
improve it further should be encouraged and welcomed.

7) Instances where PIL were filed by legal services authorities/committees

for benefit of public at large:-
When despite enactment of Legal Aid Act, various states did not frame relevant rules
and regulations under this Act and failed to constitute the High Court legal services
committees in their respective states, then Supreme Court was compelled to give directions in
this regard and to issue contempt notices.71
Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee in a writ petition pointed out towards
huge pendency of complaint cases under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act
unnecessary filed in Delhi Courts which virtually had no territorial jurisdiction to try the
same, was successful in getting the orders for return of such complaint cases to be filed
before appropriate courts having jurisdiction which certainly had eased the load of the
courts.72
Under section 4 (d) (i) and (ii) of the Legal Aid Act, Legal Services Authorities can file
PIL on certain limited issues such as consumer and environment related problems but under
clause (iii), it can take up any matter to the higher court in writ petition which may be
concerning the weaker section of the society. There is no bar for Legal Services Authorities to
take up other important issues in writ or PIL concerning public at large. Otherwise also when
PIL can be filed by any individual and are entertained by High Court and Supreme Court,
then on the principles of parity, Legal Services Authorities are also competent to take up
issues of public importance to the courts when such authorities are being managed,
supervised and controlled by members of judiciary upto Supreme Court level and are having
statutory backup and widely recognized by every court and government agencies.
The courts have to guard against judicial overload due to litigation of this nature so
that cases of genuine value do not get neglected or unduly delayed. PIL must be screened in
some way to prevent floodgates of litigation. The court should punish with costs persons
who might bring unnecessary actions. High costs are a strong disincentive to litigation, even
where there is no barrier in the form of a requirement of standing. If a court considers that the
litigant, whoever it may be, has wasted court’s time, had no legal merits, or should have
71
Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee vs. Union of India 1998 (5) SCC 762 and Supreme Court Legal
Services Committee vs. Union of India AIR 1998 Supreme Court 2940
72
Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee vs. Govt. of NCT of Delhi 2009 (163) DLT 56= 2009 X AD
(Delhi) 166

80
prosecuted its objections elsewhere, the ordinary compensatory costs rule should prevail.

‘Imagination is the voice of daring

If there is anything Godlike about God it is that.
He dared to imagine everything’
-----G. Miller

If you can’t imagine, you cannot succeed and you cannot progress. Development follows
imagination and only those can imagine who have dared to think and who can dare to think
differently. One needs the passion to do something and the urge to develop something new
and the desire to swim against the tide and only those can develop and nourish uncharted
territories. Thus the rightful persons or organizations who really feel for public at large and
are well wishers of humanity must come forward to take up their plight and grievances to the
court and certainly their actions shall be benefited to all.

81
 CHAPTER 5
LEGAL AID---INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PRESPECTIVE

A. Implementation of Legal Aid Services in different countries;

The earliest Legal Aid movement appears to be of the year 1851 when some
enactment was introduced in France for providing legal assistance to the indigent.73

1. Legal Aid in United States of America:- Civil legal assistance for poor people in the
United States began in New York City in 1876 with the founding of the predecessor to the
Legal Aid Society of New York. In 1965 the Federal Government first made funds available
for legal services through the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and started the “legal
services program.” The OEO legal services program was designed to mobilize lawyers to
address the causes and effects of poverty. OEO funded full-service local providers, each
serving one geographic area, which were to ensure access of all clients and client groups to
the legal system.
OEO assumed that each legal services program would be a self-sufficient provider; all
advocacies would be done by the program, including major litigation and holistic advocacy,
using social workers and others. OEO also developed a unique infrastructure through national
and state support and training programs and a national clearinghouse provided leadership and
support on substantive poverty law issues, as well as undertook litigation and representation
before state and federal legislative and administrative bodies.
In 1974, Congress passed the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Act, and in 1975, LSC
took over programs started in OEO. The delivery and support structure put in place by OEO
was carried over fundamentally unchanged by LSC when it began to function in 1975. While
the LSC Act said that LSC was set up “to continue the vital legal services program,” it also
explicitly changed the goals of the program.
LSC was to ensure “equal access to our system of justice for individuals who seek
redress of grievances” and “to provide high quality legal assistance to those who were
otherwise unable to afford legal counsel.” LSC strengthened existing providers, retained and
strengthened the support structure, and expanded the program to reach every county. Even
though there were experiments dealing with delivery of services (e.g., hotlines for the elderly
funded by the government and private interests), the structure of the federal legal services

73
As per website of National Legal Services Authority

82
program remained essentially unchanged until 1996. At that point, Congress reduced overall
funding by one-third, entirely defunded the support system and imposed new and
unprecedented restrictions and there had been some restrictions on what LSC-funded legal
services programs could do, particularly with LSC funds.
The U.S. civil legal aid “system” consists of a range of different types of service
providers funded by a number of sources. Overall, the system has really two or perhaps three
different sub-systems. One sub-system is funded and somewhat driven by LSC. Legal
services organizations that receive money from LSC restrict the legal aid they provide. One
sub-system is totally independent of LSC but a critical part of the overall delivery system in
each state. A final sub-system is both totally independent of LSC and not effectively
integrated into the delivery system in the states. However, how these three different systems
actually provide services on the ground differs widely among states.74
In addition to staff attorney programs providing direct legal assistance, a number of pro
bono programs are operated by civil legal aid providers, bar associations, or independent
programs. The American Bar Association-Center for Pro Bono has estimated that these pro
bono programs number over 900. Today, over 150,000 private attorneys are registered to
participate in pro bono efforts with LSC-funded programs and 45,000 are actually
participating.75
In addition, over 250 major law firms have pro bono programs that provide significant
service to low-income clients. The U.S. system also includes a number of state advocacy
organizations that advocate before state legislative and administrative bodies on policy issues
affecting low-income persons. Some of these also provide training and support to local legal
aid advocates on key substantive issues. A 2001 study conducted by the Project for the Future
of Equal Justice identified non-LSC-funded entities engaged in state advocacy in over 38
states.76
Moreover, more than 30 entities are engaged in advocacy on behalf of low-income
persons at the federal level. Some of these were formerly funded by LSC and were part of the
national support network, and some of these (like CLASP) were never funded by LSC.
There are many differences between the legal aid system in the U.S. and those in the
74
An Article ‘Recent Developments-Civil legal assistance in the United States by Alan W. Houseman
appearing on www.faculty.law.ubc.ca
75
An Article ‘Recent Developments-Civil legal assistance in the United States by Alan W. Houseman
appearing on www.faculty.law.ubc.ca
76
Civil Legal aid in the United States-an overview of the programme in 2003 by Alan W. Houseman appearing
on www.clasp.org

83
developed countries that are included within the International Legal Aid Group. Firstly, the
United States has not established a statutory or constitutional right to counsel in most civil
cases. While a national coalition is attempting to move this agenda forward, there has been
little concrete progress in establishing such a right either by court decision or by legislative
action.
Secondly, the United States has not embraced nor suggested changes to the existing
system that would substantially increase the involvement of paid private lawyers in the
delivery of civil legal assistance to low-income persons. Instead, the United States continues
to rely on pro bono attorneys and pro bono programs both to supplement the staff attorney
system and to independently deliver legal services to the poor. While some have argued that
the U.S. would improve its funding if more private attorneys were paid for providing civil
legal aid, so far there is virtually no legislative pressure to change the staff attorney model at
either the federal or state legislative level.
Thirdly, providers and not funders make the key decisions about who is served, the
scope of service provided, the types of substantive areas in which legal assistance is provided,
the mixture of attorneys and paralegals, and the type of services provided (such as advice,
brief services, extended representation, law reform, and the like). While Congress has
imposed restrictions on what LSC can fund, and a few other states have similar or even more
stringent restrictions, in the U.S. system, the funder does not decide what the provider may
do. It is the provider who undertakes planning and priority setting and decides who will
deliver the services (staff attorney or private attorney). As a corollary to this responsibility, it
is the provider who oversees how these services are delivered and the quality of work that is
provided by its staff attorneys and the pro bono and paid private attorneys with whom the
provider works.
Fourthly, because the U.S. system is so decentralized and differs so greatly among
providers and among states, there is a wide divergence, even among LSC providers, in the
types of services offered. Some do considerable consumer work and others do virtually none.
Some have substantial emphasis on housing, while others have a substantial emphasis on
public benefits. In addition, they emphasize different functions. Some primarily or
substantially utilize hotlines and advice and brief service. Others emphasize extended
representation in court and before administrative agencies. Some do all of these functions.
Fifthly, the legal framework differs among the states. The laws affecting key poverty
law issues differ. For example, in some states, landlord tenant law provides a warranty of
habitability and affirmative defenses to an eviction. In other states, neither of these is
84
available to the advocate for a tenant.
Since 2003, there have been a number of new initiatives to improve the quality of civil
legal aid providers. These have generally been efforts to work within the existing
decentralized system of civil legal aid that has evolved in the United States under which
individual providers decide who to serve, the types of cases to prioritize, and the scope of
activities to undertake.
The legal aid programme has a long history of effective representation of low-income
persons and has achieved a number of significant results for them from the courts,
administrative agencies, and legislative bodies. However, funding remains totally inadequate
to address the legal needs of the poor. Moreover, few states have implemented an effective
and efficient state integrated and comprehensive system of delivery. It will take both--
significant increases in funding and the development of effective state justice systems in
order to have a civil legal aid system that meets one of the key purposes of the LSC Act, to
provide assistance to those “unable to afford adequate legal counsel.”
As the U.S. has made considerable progress in meeting two of the three fundamental
objectives of a civil legal aid system: (1) educating and informing low-income persons of
their legal rights and responsibilities; and (2) informing low-income persons about the
options and services available to solve their legal problems, protect their legal rights, and
promote their legal interests. While much more progress is necessary in order to achieve these
two goals, at least there has been continuing progress over the last several years. On the other
hand, progress has been very slow in meeting the third objective of civil groups who are
politically or socially disfavoured or have distinct and disproportionately experienced legal
needs, have meaningful access to a full range high-quality legal assistance providers when
they have chosen options that require legal advice and representation.
The U.S. has far to go to meet all three objectives of a civil legal aid system. First, to
raise the funds needed, it must develop a much stronger base of public support for civil legal
aid within the general public and among key leaders in local communities. Second, state
efforts must continue and increase efforts to implement an integrated, comprehensive
statewide system that is efficient and effectively serves all low-income person in need of civil
legal assistance. To implement such a system, key state justice leaders including state
Supreme Court justices and others must become involved. Finally, the civil legal assistance
community must continue and substantially increase its efforts to create a new and more
effective system of advocacy, coordination, and support at the state and national level.

85
2. Legal Aid in England:- In Britain, the history of the organized efforts on the part of the
state to provide legal services to the poor and needy dates back to 1944, when Lord
Chancellor, Viscount Simon appointed Rushcliffe Committee to enquire about the facilities
existing in England and Wales for giving legal advice to the poor and to make
recommendations as appear to be desirable for ensuring that persons in need of legal advice
are provided the same by the State.
In England legal aid is governed by “Legal Services Commission” 77 which ensure that
people get the correct information, advice and legal assistance they need to deal with a range
of problems such as:

 Criminal cases
 Civil cases - with exceptions including libel, most personal injury cases,
associated cases with the running of businesses, and family cases.

The LSC is responsible for the Community Legal Service (civil) and Criminal Defence
Service (criminal) legal aid schemes. Depending on the type of case, legal aid may or may
not be means tested.
LSC works in partnership with solicitors and non-profit organization. Their
fundamental work is to provide social and legal justice for the vulnerable and socially
excluded people. Their job is to make sure that applicants can access the assistance they
require to address their problems.
Legal aids in Wales and England can be obtained through the internet and/or over the
telephone. Here legal aid is administered by the Legal Services Commission, and is available
for most criminal cases, and many types of civil cases with exceptions including libel, most
personal injury cases (which are now dealt with under Conditional Fee Agreements, a species
of contingency fee) and cases associated with the running of a business. Family cases are also
often covered. Depending on the type of case, legal aid may or may not be means tested.
Criminal legal aid is generally provided through private firms of solicitors and barristers
in private practice. There are limited numbers of public defenders. Civil legal aid is provided
through solicitors and barristers in private practice but also non-lawyers working in law
centers and not-for-profit advice agencies.

77
Legal aid in Wales and England, www.laoc.org and Annual Report 2005-06 of Legal Services Commission at
www.legalservices.gov.uk

86
3. Legal aid in Canada:- In Canada, a strong legal aid system is one of the pillars that
support’s the system of justice. The main aim of providing legal aid in Canada is to guarantee
that the people who are economically disadvantaged to have an equitable access to the justice
system.
Legal aid can be provided for a variety of legal problems, including criminal matters,
family disputes, immigration and refugee hearings and poverty law issues as well as
landlord/tenant disputes and employment insurance.
Aid for legal representative or advice is available all across the province in Canada.
Most office will process applicant’s applications, issue legal aid certificates to financially
eligible applicants, which will allow them to receive legal service from the lawyer of their
choice.
The provision of legal aid for the administration of criminal law deals with by The
Federal Government and for the administration of justice and for property and civil rights
(such as family and poverty law issues) deals by The Provincial Government.78
Even though civil legal aid is dealt by provincial and territorial responsibility, the
Federal Government plays its part by contributing programs through the Canada Social
Transfer. It also provides funding to support of legal aid in Criminal Law, Youth Criminal
Justice Act and Immigration and Refugee matters. The responsibilities of provincial and
territorial governments are to manage and administrate their legal aid programs.
Legal aid in Canada is administered by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) 79. The LAO provides
funding to more than one million Ontario residents who need help with their legal problems.
Legal Aid is available to low income individuals and disadvantaged communities for a
variety of legal problems, including criminal matters, family disputes, immigration and
refugee hearings and poverty law issues such as basic employment rights, worker's
compensation, landlord/tenant disputes, disability support and family benefits payments.
Legal Aid in Ontario is provided in a number of ways: Ontario has a legal aid certificate
program. The program provides low income people with certificates for a set number of
hours of service to be provided by a private lawyer. When the lawyer has completed their
work, they bill Legal Aid Ontario for the services they provided. The certificate system is
limited by the fact that many lawyers do not accept certificates because the hourly rates are
too low. Lawyers are also wary of accepting cases because a certificate may not provide
enough hours for the lawyer to provide adequate representation
78
www.laoc.org/canada and www.en.wikipedia.org
79
www.laoc.org/canada and www.en.wikipedia.org

87
 Ontario also has a community legal clinic system. Ontario’s 79 Community legal clinics
are staffed by lawyers, community legal workers, and sometimes law students. Each legal
clinic is run by a volunteer board of directors with members from the community. Legal
clinics provide information, representation, and advice on various kinds of legal issues,
including social assistance, housing, refugee and immigration law, employment law, human
rights, workers’ compensation, and the Canada Pension Plan. Many legal clinics also produce
community legal education materials, offer workshops and information sessions, and engage
in other community development activities including campaigns to change the law. Specialty
legal clinics serve a particular community or focus on a specific area of law. Unlike general
service legal clinics, most specialty legal clinics are not limited to serving a particular
geographic area.
The clinic system is seen by many to be a preferred model of legal aid delivery.
Services are provided at the community level and clients therefore benefit from the agency's
connections to other services, including health care among others. Legal problems are seen in
their social context and issues of broader societal concern can be identified by clients and
staff.

4. Legal aid in China:-The development in China has been accompanied by the growing
importance of resolving disputes through legal means. Chinese citizens have come to rely
more and more on legal services to protect their rights and interests. However, the widening
gap between the wealthy and the poor arouses concern about the inequality of people before
the law as the poor cannot afford the increasing legal fees. Thus, there is an urgent need to
create a legal aid system in China.
On December 16, 1996, the Legal Aid Centre of the Ministry of Justice was
established to promote the development of legal aid bodies nationwide and to monitor their
operation. China's legal aid bodies are divided into four categories from the central to the
local level, namely: the central, provincial (or autonomous region or metropolitan city
directly under the central government), regional (municipality or prefecture) and county or
district legal aid bodies. The whole country now has 29 provincial legal aid centres, 266
regional legal aid centres accounting for nearly 74 percent of all the regions and
municipalities and 968 county legal aid centres accounting for nearly 34 percent of all
counties and districts.80

80
Legal aid in China by Wong Kai-Shing, an article appearing on www.hrsolidarity.net

88
 Legal aid centres provide legal assistance either under the orders of the People's Courts
or after accepting the application of a citizen. In the former case, the People's Court orders the
legal aid centre to designate a lawyer for the defendant who fulfils the requirements for legal
aid in a criminal proceeding. In the latter case, a citizen can make an application to a legal aid
centre for legal assistance for litigation or non-litigation services. For the request for litigation
legal assistance, the legal aid centre will assign a law firm to provide a lawyer to handle the
case

5. Legal aid in Australia:- Australia has a federal system of Government comprising federal,
state and territory jurisdictions. The Australian (Commonwealth) and State and Territory
governments are each responsible for the provision of legal aid for matters arising under their
laws
Legal aid for both Commonwealth and State matters is primarily delivered through
State and Territory legal aid commissions (LACs), which are independent statutory agencies
established under State and Territory legislation.81 The Australia Government funds the
provision of legal aid for Commonwealth family, civil and criminal law matters under
agreements with State and Territory governments and LACs. The majority of Commonwealth
matters fall within the family law jurisdiction.
Legal aid commissions use a mixed model to deliver legal representation services. A
grant of assistance legal representation may be assigned to either a salaried in house lawyer
or referred to a private legal practitioner. The mixed model is particularly advantageous for
providing services to clients in regional areas and in cases where a conflict of interest means
the same lawyer cannot represent both parties.82
The Australian Government and most State and Territory Governments also fund
community legal centres, which are independent, non-profit organizations that provide
referral, advice and assistance to people with legal problems. Additionally, the Australian
Government funds financial assistance for legal services under certain statutory schemes and
legal services for Indigenous Australians.83
By way of history, the Australian Government took its first major step towards a
national system of legal aid when it established the Legal Services Bureaux in 1942.
81
Legal aid in Australia by Jimmy Wales appearing on www.wikipedia.org
82
Legal aid in Australia by Jimmy Wales appearing on www.wikipedia.org
83
Legal aid in Australia by Jimmy Wales appearing on www.wikipedia.org

89
However, there was a move in the late 1970 to provide service delivery by the States and
Territories (not the federal arm of government). In 1977, the Australian Government enacted
the Commonwealth Legal Aid Commission Act 1977 (LAC Act) which established
cooperative arrangements between the Australian Government and State and Territory
governments under which legal aid would be provided by independent legal aid commissions
to be established under State and Territory legislation. The process of establishing the LACs
took a number of years. It commenced in 1976 with the establishment of the Legal Aid
Commission of Western Australia and ended in 1990 with the establishment of the Legal Aid
Commission of Tasmania. The cooperative arrangements that were established by the LAC
Act provided for Commonwealth and State and Territory legal aid funding agreements, which
began in 1987.84
In July, 1997 the Australian Government changed its arrangements to directly fund legal
aid services for Commonwealth law matters. Under this arrangement the States and
Territories fund assistance in respect of their own laws.

(B) Mandate of Legal Services Authorities Act in India:- The mandate of the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987 is that the Legal Services Authorities shall be set up in all the
states. State authority shall consist of Chief Justice of the respective High Court who shall be
the Patron-in-Chief; a serving or retired Judge of the High Court, to be nominated by the
Governor, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, who shall be the
Executive Chairman and such number of other members, possessing such experience and
qualifications as may be prescribed by the State Government, to be nominated by that
Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court. Besides that, there will
be a Member Secretary of the said State Authority appointed by the State Government in
consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court and the said Member Secretary shall be
the member of State Higher Judicial Service.85
Apart from the constitution of State Legal Services Authority, a Central Authority is
also contemplated who shall be designated as National Legal Services Authority and the said
Central Authority shall consist of the Chief Justice of India who shall be the Patron-in-Chief
and a retired or serving Judge of the Supreme Court to be nominated by the President, in
consultation with the Chief Justice of India, who shall be the Executive Chairman and such

84
Legal aid in Australia by Jimmy Wales appearing on www.wikipedia.org
85
Section 6 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987

90
number of other members, possessing such experience and qualifications, as may be
prescribed by the Central Government, to be nominated by that Government in consultation
with the Chief Justice of India. A Member Secretary of the said National Legal Services
Authority/Central Authority also to be appointed by the Central Government in consultation
with the Chief Justice of India.86
The State Authority is supposed to function under the overall supervision and control
of the Central Authority.87 Apart from the State Legal Services Authority, a High Court Legal
Services Committee88 and a Supreme Court Legal Services Committee 89 is also contemplated
under the Act. The High Court Legal Services Committee shall be constituted by the State
Authority and the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee shall be constituted by the
Central Authority. Besides this, the Act also talks about the District Legal Services
Authority90 for every district in the State and a Taluk Legal Services Committee, 91 for each
Taluk or Mandal or for groups of Taluks or Mandals. Both these Authorities shall function
under the overall supervision and control of the State Legal Services Authority. Acting upon
the said mandate, almost all the State Governments have appointed their specific Legal
Services Authorities which are performing duties as assigned to them under the Legal
Services Authorities Act.
Details and achievements of some of the legal services authorities are as follows:
Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority
Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority was constituted under section 6 of the
Legal Services Authority Act 1987. The Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court is Patron-
in-Chief while senior most Judge of this High Court is the Executive Chairman of the
Authority. The head office of the authority is situated at third floor of Jawahar Bhawan
Annexe, Lucknow, UP.
High Court Legal Services Committee at Allahabad with its Sub-Committee at High
Court, Lucknow Bench, 71 District Legal Services Authorities and 300 Tehsil Legal Services

86
Section 3 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
87
Section 7 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
88
Section 8A of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
89
Section 3A of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
90
Section 9 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
91
Section 11 A of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987

91
Committees92 have been constituted under the Act. District Judge is the Chairman while a
Judicial Officer of rank of Civil Judge (Senior Division) is the Secretary of the District Legal
Services Authority. Senior Civil Judge of the Tehsil is Ex-officio Chairman of Tehsil Legal
Services Committee and Tehsildar is Secretary of Tehsil Legal Services Committee.
Authority in order to carry out its activities framed Regulations vide notification no.
38/SLSA-104-97 dated 11-9-1997 which are given the name as ‘Uttar Pradesh State Legal
Services Authority (Transaction of business and other provisions) Regulations, 1997.93
Various Legal awareness and Legal Literacy Camps, Departmental Lok Adalats, Lok
Adalats for Banks etc. are also organized under the Act. Two Mediation Centres at High
Court, Allahabad and Lucknow Bench of High Court are also established to settle disputes
with the aid of mediators. Eleven more mediation centres are likely to be setup in various
districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Symposiums, Seminars, Conferences are also organized in order to settle disputes as well
as to make the people aware about legal system.
From the year 1981 to financial year 2009-10, total 36306 Lok Adalats were organized
and total number of 83,61,974 cases were settled through mutual settlement
which includes 75117 Motor Accident Claim Tribunal cases, 61,44,790 Petty Criminal Cases,
67,819 Matrimonial cases, 1,62,876 Civil Cases, 27,533 Labour cases, 14,88,605 Revenue
cases and 3,95,234 other cases. Compensation of Rs. 5,20,62,62,824.31 paisa was
awarded in Motor Accident Claim Tribunal Cases

and Rs. 86,32,05823.56 paisa was realized as fine.94

Haryana State Legal Services Authority

(a) Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalats:- To enable the Courts to refer more
contentious matters to Lok Adalats which can give repeated sittings to the parties, and to
enable general public to take their disputes at pre-litigative stage to Lok Adalats for exploring
possibility of amicable settlement, a Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalat is functioning in
the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh which is headed by a retired Judge of the

92
Data as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.upslsa.up.nic.in belonging to UP State Legal Services
Authority
93
Data as on 29-11-2010taken from website-www.upslsa.up.nic.in belonging to UP State Legal Services
Authority
94
Data as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.upslsa.up.nic.in belonging to UP State Legal Services
Authority

92
High Court.95
Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalat (redesigned as “Samjhauta Sadans” with effect
from 19.7.2002) are also functioning in ten districts of Haryana viz., Ambala, Panchkula,
Gurgaon, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Hissar, Fatehabad, Karnal, Sirsa, Rohtak and Rewari which are
headed by retired judicial officers. In the remaining districts and sub-divisional courts of
Haryana, serving judicial officers are presiding over such “Samjhauta Sadans” on rotational
basis.96

(b) Rural Lok Adalat:- Haryana State authority launched a project ‘People’s initiative for
justice’ in order to involve the public spirited persons for settlement of disputes and to make
the villages of state as litigation free or atleast to bring litigation in the village to bare
minimum level. The disputes between the parties are settled with the intervention of judges,
lawyers, respectable persons of the village and social workers.97
(c) Legal Aid Counsel Scheme:-The under mentioned three schemes are being implemented
by this Authority for providing free legal services98:—

(i) Legal Aid Counsel Scheme for remand hours:-This scheme has been introduced for
representation of indigent accused “during remand hours” in judicial courts exercising
magisterial powers. During such proceedings, the advocates on the panel of the District Legal
Services Authorities give legal assistance to the persons in custody, for opposing remand
applications, securing orders for bail and moving such miscellaneous application on their
behalf as may be required.

(ii) Legal Aid Cells in Jails:-Under this scheme, advocates on the panel of every District
Legal Services Authority visit the jails, once a week, for collecting applications from inmates
and helping them in the matter of drafting their appeals, petitions etc., so that the jail inmates
do not feel that they have no opportunity for the redressal of their legal grievances.

95
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.hslsa.nic.in belonging to Haryana State Legal
Services Authority
96
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.hslsa.nic.in belonging to Haryana State Legal
Services Authority
97
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.hslsa.nic.in belonging to Haryana State Legal
Services Authority
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Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website-www.hslsa.nic.in belonging to Haryana State Legal
Services Authority

93
(iii) Legal Representation to aided persons:-Representation under this category by way of
providing free legal service is of two types, one of which is to represent the accused who is
unable to engage a counsel on his own and the other representation is by way of providing
free legal service for filing or defending an “aided person” in civil matters.

(d) Counseling and Conciliation Centres:- Counseling and Conciliation Centers have been
set up in all the district headquarters of Haryana with a view to provide a forum to the parties
to a dispute to air their views in an open and free atmosphere without feeling constraints of
legal trappings. If the mediation of such centres is successful, the parties are referred to the
Lok Adalat for recording their statements whereupon an award is passed in terms of the
settlement thus arrived at and which award has as much value as a decree of a civil court and
is final in as much as no appeal lies to any court against such award.99

(e) Accreditation to Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Action Groups:-This

Authority is keen to give accreditation to genuine Non-Governmental Organizations and
Social Action Groups working in the field of Legal Literacy/Legal Awareness/Legal Aid
Programmes/Para Legal Activities etc. Any organization or group desiring accreditation with
this Authority can apply by furnishing the requisite information on the prescribe proforma.
Non-Governmental Organizations/Social Action Groups after due accreditation will also be
eligible for being considered for grant-in-aid from the National Legal Services Authority for
which purpose they are required to furnish the information on the prescribe proforma.

(f) Legal Literacy:- To provide Legal Literacy to the masses is the main objective of
HALSA. National Legal Literacy Mission was launched on 6.3.2005. To educate the masses
about Legal Literacy, HALSA got prepared one documentary film (Savera) which has been
telecast by Doordarshan Kendras of Chandigarh and Hissar. The plan and programme of this
mission is to visit all the remote areas in all the villages to educate the people about their
rights and their duties. During the year 2006-07, 6700 villages were covered by the mobile
vans of Public Relations Department, Haryana which shall show the documentary film in all
the 6700 villages of Haryana. HALSA is also organizing Legal Literacy Camps in the remote
rural areas and urban slums with the help of retired judicial/executive officers, social workers
advocates, law teachers, law students on regular basis on Sundays and holidays.
99
Section 21 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987

94
 To provide printed material for Legal Literacy programme, HALSA got published
12,000 books titled “Aap Aur Apka Kanoon” and sent the same to Sarpanches of all the Gram
Panchyats, Chairmen of Municipal Councils & President of Municipal Councils of Haryana
State. Another 3,000 books titled “Kahani Ki Kahani Kanoon Ki Jubani” were also got
published.
(g) Sensitization of Executive Officers:- To achieve the object of Legal Literacy Mission
and to involve the Executive Officers who come across with general public at the first
instance, a workshop on Legal Literacy was held on 5.3.2006 at Karnal. The workshop was
inaugurated by Hon'ble Mr. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High
Court and Executive Chairman of HALSA. All the Executive Officers, Police Officers and
Revenue Officers of Karnal District attended the said workshop. A special Lok Adalat was
organized at Assandh on 29.4.2006 and all the participating officers were involved to get the
disputes settled.

Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority

Tamil Nadu State is pioneer in promoting Legal Aid programmes in the country. Based
on Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s Report submitted to Government of India in 1973, the
Government of Tamil Nadu appointed a one Man Commission headed by Justice P.
Ramakrishnan, Judge, High Court (Retd.) to examine the feasibility of providing legal aid at
the State’s cost. The Commission submitted its report in 1973. After a prolonged
correspondence, Memorandum of Association of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid & Advice
Board was published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette extraordinary on 4.12.1976.100
After the formation of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid & Advice Board, Chennai
District Committee and other District Committees were formed on 24.8.1977 at the initial
stage in the respective District Headquarters. The District Committees were headed by the
District Judges as Presidents of the respective Districts (Minutes of the Executive Committee
meeting dated 25.10.1977). The High Court Legal Aid Centre, for dealing with cases
exclusively for High Court matters, was constituted with effect from 11.7.1983.101
Consequent to the notification of establishment of Legal Services Authority for Tamil Nadu
by various orders of Government, the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid and Advice Board was
100
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in belonging to Tamil Nadu
State Legal Services Authority
101
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in belonging to Tamil Nadu
State Legal Services Authority

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dissolved by a resolution passed in the General Body of Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid &
Advice Board held on 18.10.1997, based on G.O.Ms.No. 622 Home (Cts.IV) dated
29.4.1997. By G.O.Ms.No. 1577 Home (Cts.IV) dated 29.10.1997, the newly constituted
Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority came to be functioning with effect from
1.11.1997.102 All the staff members of the erstwhile Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid and Advice
Board were absorbed in the newly constituted Legal Services Authority. By notification of the
Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority dated 31.10.1997, all the District Committees for
Legal Aid & Advice, Taluk Committees for Legal Aid & Advice, Legal Aid Centres were
designated as District Legal Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services Committees. The
Presidents of the respective committees were re-designated as Chairmen of the respective
District Authorities and Taluk Legal Services Committees.103

Counseling steps taken by authority:- This authority started functioning in the following
levels in the state.104
(a) State Authority:- In the State Legal Services Authority three counseling sessions are
regularly conducted. Retired Judicial Officers preside over the counseling session and deal
with matters relating to civil disputes.

(b) District and Taluk levels:- All the 167 District level and Taluk level Authorities have
been provided with infrastructure required for Mediation and Counseling. On all working
days, a panel lawyer would sit in the office of the District Authority or the Taluk Legal
Services Committee as the case may be and take all efforts to settle disputes through
mediation and conciliation.
(c) Centres for Women:- Centres exclusively to deal with the issues concerning women have
been opened by the Authority all over Tamil Nadu and as on date, there are 52 Centres for
Women functioning. In the City of Chennai alone, three Centres for Women are actively
functioning. Women lawyers are posted regularly in those centres to deal with the grievances
of women compassionately.

102
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in belonging to Tamil Nadu
State Legal Services Authority
103
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in belonging to Tamil Nadu
State Legal Services Authority
104
Information as on 29-11-2010 taken from website www.tnlegalservices.tn.gov.in belonging to Tamil Nadu
State Legal Services Authority

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(d) Mediation Centres in remote villages:- In order to further promote the concept of
mediation and conciliation, the State Authority has extended its infrastructure to the remote
villages also. Staff members along with panel lawyers are deputed during week-ends to attend
the Mediation Centre which is located either in the Panchayat Board office or Block
Development office in the village concerned. The applications are received from the litigant
public and, if possible, they are disposed off on the spot and if immediate relief is not
possible, the applications are brought to the nearest Legal Aid committee and are being
processed.

(e) Literacy camps:- Legal awareness is spread by conducting legal literacy camps and legal
aid clinics. Every District Authority and the Taluk Legal Services committee is required to
conduct monthly Legal Literacy camps. The District Authorities and Taluk Committees, as a
matter of fact, conduct more camps in their respective area of operation out of their own
interest. For creating awareness among the public, legal literacy and awareness camps are
being organized in the nook and corner of the villages in the State of Tamil Nadu. Out of
18,603 villages in the State, the District Legal Services Authorities and the Taluk Legal
Services Committees have not only covered the entire villages, but also started second round
for the purpose of spreading the legal awareness among the public.

(f) Legal literacy through Folk songs and Villupattu:- As part of the Legal Literacy and
awareness programme, Villuppattu, a traditional folk-lore of Tamil Nadu performed by
famous artist “Kalaimamani Subbu Arumugam” is exhibited through electronic media from
the year 2002. The melodious songs and educative Villupattu played in the legal literacy
camps attract large crowd. The public at large and the advocates exhibit much interest in
hearing them and they purchase the cassettes for their personal use. Lyrics in the style of folk
songs carrying the message of various Laws, enactments and schemes on Lok Adalat sung by
various famous playback singers viz. Padmashri Yesudoss, Vani Jayaram, Unnikrishnan,
Mahanadhi Shobana, and Sirkali Siva Chidambaram were recorded and are being played at
the venues where legal literacy programmes are organized from the year 2003 onwards.

(g) Video and audio cassettes for publicity:-The video and audio CDs and cassettes
containing the substance of the various laws were prepared with the funds provided by
Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a Public Sector Undertaking, and the same were released at
Cuddalore for the first time on 2.8.2003 for public consumption and since then are in
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continuous use.

(h) Release of booklets in vernacular language:-In order to enlighten the general public,
the basics of various beneficial enactments were prepared and published by the State Legal
Services Authority in book form.
The following booklets titled as “Legal Literacy and Awareness Series” were published by
the State Legal Services Authority:

Ø Consumer Protection Act

Ø Protection for Women under IPC
Ø Protection for Women under various laws other than IPC
Ø Rights of Arrested persons
Ø Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act
Ø Hindu Marriage Act
Ø Child Marriage Restraint Act
Ø Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955
Ø The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956

Ø The Child Labour (prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986

Ø The Guardian and Wards Act 1890
Ø How to get compensation in Motor Accident cases?
Ø Maintenance – Legal position
Ø The constitution and activities of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority
Ø Benefits under various welfare schemes of Government – How to get them?

That apart, as part of legal literacy and awareness campaign, the Tamil Nadu State Legal
Services Authority has released a booklet in vernacular language under the caption
“SATTAPPANIGAL MUTHAL KAIYEDU in question-and-answer form.

(i) Film on Lok Adalat:-A short film on “Lok Adalat” highlighting the benefits of the Lok
Adalat has been produced and released by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority on
1.3.2004. There is a greater demand for dubbing of the film in other vernacular languages. On
the request made by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority, the Tamil Nadu State Legal

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Services Authority provided the Beta copy of the film Lok Adalat for dubbing in their local
language. The film is being screened in almost all the functions of the Legal Services
Authority as a prelude to the function. The source of dispute, the psychological impact it
created on the minds of the disputants, the yearning for amicable solution sought for by the
agriculturist, the ill-intention of the other elite breed to elongate the dispute through the court
of law, the accidental meeting by the disputants with the District Authority personnel and the
efforts taken by him to conciliate the matter effectively and the solution provided by the
Legal Services Authority for the disputes, have been commendably picturized in the film. In
fact, the script and the screenplay were sculpted by the Patron-in-Chief of Tamil Nadu State
Legal Services Authority.

(j) Meet with the Press and Electronic Media:- As part of the legal literacy and awareness
camps, a meeting with Press and Electronic Media was arranged on 1.7.2004 and the benefits
of conciliation and mediation of the disputes and settlement of disputes through Lok Adalats,
the importance of legal literacy and awareness camps were brought to their notice. It was
made clear that unless the Press and Electronic media involve themselves in the process of
inseminating the ideals of legal services Authorities Act and the activities of the Authority,
the poor, disadvantaged and the marginalized sections of the society would take long to reap
the benefits of the beneficial legislation. A decision has also been taken in the meeting to
organize a one day Workshop in this regard.

(k) Documentary Film on “Anaivarukkum Samaneethi” “Access to Justice for All”:- In

order to further enlighten the people of the various beneficial enactments passed by the
Central and State Governments as well as the various programmes and schemes implemented
by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, through legal literacy and awareness, a 30
minutes documentary film “Access to Justice for All” in English and “Anaivarukkum
Samaneethi” in vernacular language was produced and released by the Tamil Nadu State
Legal Services Authority. The short film is made available in the form of Compact Discs and
was forwarded to all the District Authorities and Taluk Committees with a direction to display
the same while conducting Lok Adalats and legal Literacy Camps.

(l) Pension Adalat:-Pension Adalat has started functioning in the premises of Tamil Nadu
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State Legal Services Authority from 22.02.2002. A retired Judge of the High Court shall be
the presiding Judge of the Lok Adalat apart from one retired IAS Officer and a women lawyer
as members. The Pension Adalat sits two days in a month and disposes off the disputes
regularly.

(m) Prison Adalat:-It is pertinent to note that more than 50% of the population in jail are
under-trials. The first Prison Adalat was inaugurated on 15.8.2000 in Chennai Central prison
followed by Madurai, Trichy, Vellore Cuddalore and Salem. In Vellore, there are two prisons,
one for males and another for females, and for each of those prisons, Prison Adalat is
established. The functioning of Prison Adalats has reduced not only the pendency of cases but
also the prison population. Prison Adalats are held by every Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or
the Chief Judicial Magistrate or Metropolitan Magistrate/ Judicial Magistrate in Central Jails
on regular basis. The cases of under-trial prisoners who are involved in petty offences
punishable up to three years are being disposed off through Prison Adalats.

(n) Functioning of legal aid clinic for HIV/AIDS At Namakkal:-The Tamil Nadu State
Legal Services Authority with the help of Tamil Nadu AIDS control Society and the District
Administration, Namakkal arranged to open a Legal Aid Clinic at Namakkal. This Legal Aid
Clinic is functioning in the Government Head Quarters Hospital, Namakkal on every
Wednesday between 2.00 P.M. and 4.00 P.M. and also on every Saturday between 10.00 A.M.
and 12.00 Noon. The Panel Lawyers from the District Legal Services Authority, Namakkal
are deputed to attend the said clinic to offer legal advice. This Authority is proposed to open
Legal Aid Clinic for the persons living with HIV/aids in Dindigul and also in every District
Head Quarters where there is need.
From 1986 to 30-9-2010, total 48604 lok adalats were organized by the authority
and total 469529 cases of different nature were settled and sum of Rs. 20495600200.82 paisa
was awarded.105

Karnataka State Legal Services Authority

This authority from April 1997 till November, 2008 organized 23653 lok adalats and
settled 454513 cases in which sum of Rs. 4083906788 was awarded towards compensation in
motor vehicle accident matters and sum of Rs. 1271137449 in land acquisition cases. Besides
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State Legal Services Authority

100
this 7074 cases of pre-litigation stage were also settled beside undertaking following
activities.106

(a) As per the directions of National Legal Services Authority, New Delhi, “National
Legal Aid Week for Women” was organized by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority
in co-ordination with Bangalore Urban & Rural District Legal Services Authorities,
Bangalore Advocates Association & Women & Child Development Department, from 2nd
March, 2005 to 9th March, 2005 in different places by arranging lecture and cultural
programmes. During this period a small book titled as “Mahile Matthu Kaanoonu” was also
published by the State Authority.

(b) A Bruhat Lok Adalat was held in the Hon'ble High Court relating to the cases pending
in High Court. 392 cases were settled in the said Lok Adalat. On same day the book titled as
“Kakshigaararige Kivi Maatu” published by the State Authority was released.

(c) A book titled “Janasamanyarigagi Kanoonu Mahithi” published earlier in Kannada by

the State Authority was printed in Brail language also for the use of blind and was released by
Chief Justice cum Patron-in-Chief of the authority.

Seminars for Workmen’s Compensation Commissioners and Senior Labour Inspectors

to sensitize them about the various provisions of Workmen’s Compensation Act and Child
Welfare Legislations from 10-10-2005 to 16-10-2005 and a Legal Aid Week for the Mentally
Disabled were organized.

Maharashtra State Legal Service Authority

In the year 1979, for implementing Legal Aid programme for providing the Legal Aid
Services to the weaker section of community in the state, "The Maharashtra Legal Aid and
Board" scheme was constituted vide Government of Maharashtra Resolution No. DFS, 1076/
976/(525)/-X, dated 14.02.1977. The above scheme was well developed in the state and gives
better advantage to the weaker section peoples in the state. The government has sanctioned
grants for its better development in all people in Maharashtra. So many people of weaker
section in the community taken advantage of the said scheme. The said scheme is well

106
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Services Authority

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developed in various districts with the cooperation of judges, retired judges, advocates, social
workers and they have given full cooperation. The authority has organized number of
programmes for benefits of people, holding of lok adalats at district and Taluka and at village
levels in which social workers and other higher categories have given good responses.107

Delhi Legal Services Authority

Delhi is the capital of India and has got a cosmopolitan character, a population and
polity which represent the entire length and breadth of India. Delhi has got pockets of
Punjabis, Maharashtrians, Dravidians, Purvanchalis, Biharis, Gujaratis, Tamilians and hue
and colour of almost all the states that form part of the federal India. It is, therefore, quite
natural that Delhi, being the Capital city, is the focus of all attention and is required to
showcase the best performance and the best efforts in ameliorating the social inequalities
between the haves and have-nots and Delhi Legal Services Authority has to emerge as a role
model for all State Legal Services Authorities.
The Delhi Legal Services Authority has been constituted under the State Legal Services
Authorities Act, 1987 and prior to that, the core activities of the Delhi Legal Services
Authority were being conducted and operated through ‘Delhi Legal Aid and Advice Board’
which was functioning in Room No. 1, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi. Subsequently w.e.f.
November, 1995, the Delhi Legal Services Authority was constituted and it started
functioning at Room No. 1, Patiala House Courts. Later on, some of the activities of the said
Authority were transferred to be performed from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Place, Gole Market,
New Delhi and in February, 2008, a new Central Office of the Delhi Legal Services Authority
started functioning from Publication Building, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi. The Delhi
Legal Services Authority has also constituted a High Court Legal Services Committee and
District Legal Services Committees in all the court complexes in Delhi who are having full
time secretaries in order to fulfill the objectives of the Act.
As on 30-6-2009, total 148052 persons of all categories have been benefited by Delhi
Legal Services Authority by providing legal aid, advice, conciliation etc. Delhi Legal
Services Authority also orgainsed 518 legal literacy camps in various parts of the state. In
Delhi till 30-6-2009 total 8451 Lok Adalats were held in which total 280551 cases (pending
and prelitigation matters) settled which includes 16672 Motor Accident Claim Tribunal cases.
A sum of Rs. 2754435364 was awarded as compensation in MACT cases. Out of the settled
cases, 131668 cases were of prelitigation stage whereas 135037 were of those categories
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Information taken from website of Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority as on 29-11-2010

102
which were pending in different courts, tribunals etc.108
The Delhi Legal Services Authority has, apart from performing various duties assigned
to it under the Legal Services Authorities Act of providing legal aid and spreading legal
awareness etc. has undertaken certain bold initiatives and undertaken certain pioneering
projects in hand which were long overdue and which deserve a certain mention herein. Some
of the big achievements of Delhi Legal Services Authority are discussed as under;109

(a) Mega Traffic Lok Adalat:- For the first time ever, the concept of Lok Adalat was
introduced to the Traffic Challans and first ever Mega Traffic Lok Adalat was organized in
Delhi on 8 and 9 September and secondly on 9 and 16 December, 2007 at all the District
Court complexes in Delhi under the directions of Arrears Committee of Supreme Court of
India headed by Mr. Justice S. B. Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India in order to reduce the
huge pendency of Traffic Challans Cases as well as to create awareness of the Traffic Rules.
The third Mega Traffic Lok Adalat was held on 27 April, 2008 and 4 May 2008 at all the four
court complexes i.e. Tis Hazari Court, Patiala House Court, Karkardooma Court and Rohini
Court Complexes and this process is now continuing after some intervals.
Mega Traffic Lok Adalat on 8 and 9 September, 2007 in respect of compoundable
traffic offences and petty offences was organized at all court complexes and courts of Special
Metropolitan Magistrates. A total number of 42,567 cases relating to compoundable traffic
offences and petty offences under weight and measurement at were disposed off and total
compounding fee of Rs.58,21,890 was realized. Mega Traffic Lok Adalat on 9 and 16
December, 2007 was organized at all the four District Court Complexes. On 9.12.2007, total
12,887 traffic challans of private vehicles were disposed off and on 16.12.2007, total 24,599
traffic challans of private and commercial vehicles were disposed off. Total number of 38,316
cases including 829 Cases under Negotiable Instruments Act were disposed off and
compounding fee of Rs. 30,44,925 was realized. Mega Traffic Lok Adalats have disposed off
80,053 cases and realized compounding fee of Rs. 88, 66,415 till December, 2007.
The first Mega Traffic Lok Adalats was a resounding success. Never before in the
history of Lok Adalat, the Legal Services Authorities has ventured into the areas of Traffic
Challans and organized Mega Traffic Lok Adalats. This concept was developed for the first
time and an institutionalized mechanism was subsequently developed wherein Mega Traffic

108
Annual Report 2008-09 published by Supreme Court of India.
109
Information based upon the personal experience and knowledge being worked as Member Secretary, Delhi
Legal Services Authority as well as taken from the website of the Authority and its record.

103
Lok Adalats were organized on 9 and 16 December, 2007 as well as on 27 of April and 18 of
May, 2008 and so on. Needless to say that these Mega Traffic Lok Adalats were also hugely
successful and the response was tremendous. These Mega Traffic Lok Adalats were
deliberately organized on sundays and holidays to facilitate the participation of maximum
number of persons in the said Lok Adalats so that people can come at their convenience and it
was also facilitated that a person can get his challans disposed off at any of the court
complexes irrespective of the area where he was residing.

(b) Plea Bargaining adalats in jail:- Taking its leadership role seriously, the Delhi Legal
Services Authority also achieved the unique distinction of holding of First Ever Adalat in
Tihar Jail on the recently introduced concept of Plea-Bargaining and first ever such Adalat
was held on 21st of July, 2007 and 310 cases were settled. An informative booklet on Plea-
Barganing was also released by Chief Guest Mr. Justice Arijit Pasayat, Judge, Supreme Court
of India.
Delhi Legal Services Authority had organized legal awareness programmes in all the
jails in Central Jail Tihar and Rohini Jail from 15 March, 2007 to 26 March, 2007. More than
200 under trial prisoners of each jail attended the said legal awareness programme. Jail
Visiting Advocates, Jail Superintendents and Welfare Officers had also participated. Response
of under trial prisoners was overwhelming and encouraging and approximately 1200 under
trial jail inmates had expressed their willingness to avail the concession of the Plea
Bargaining. Delhi prisons had furnished the list and particulars of the cases of 1200 under
trial jail inmates who were lodged in the jail for committing offences punishable with
imprisonment upto seven years. The Authority prepared draft applications and affidavits and
also informative material on Plea Bargaining and thereafter workshops were organized in
each jail for preparation of the applications and affidavits of the willing and eligible under
trial jail inmates for the Special Adalats on Plea Bargaining. Pamphlets and Handbills on Plea
Bargaining containing information were also distributed among the under trial jail inmates.
As per record till November, 2007, total 722 cases in special adalats were taken up out of
which 544 were disposed off on plea bargaining ground.

(c) Daily lok adalats : The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also taken a lead in holding
Daily Lok Adalats since 18 of February, 2008 at Patiala House Courts, New Delhi for the
cases under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, Criminal Compoundable cases,
Motor Accident Claim Cases and Matrimonial Disputes i.e. under sections 498A/406 IPC and
104
125 Cr.P.C. This step was taken with a view to provide the forum of Lok Adalat to the people
in need of the same on regular and daily basis. The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also
been organizing Lok Adalats at the pre-litigative stage as well as pending court cases on
Sundays at all the four court complexes in Delhi.

(d) Lok Adalat for the settlement of Cognizable and Criminal Compoundable Cases at
pre-litigation stage: Delhi Legal Services Authority commenced Lok Adalats on 29.07.2007
for the settlement of cognizable and compoundable Offences at pre-litigation/pre-chargesheet
stage at Patiala House Court Complex, New Delhi under Alternate Complaint Resolution
Exercise. Upto November, 2007, total 170 cases out of 457 cases taken up were disposed off.
The same is also to be informed to be immense help to the persons concerned and has
received a very warmed response.

(e) Permanent Lok Adalats: The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also set up Permanent
Lok Adalats with respect to the electricity matters pertaining to the billing problem/misusing
problems/theft problem of the three electricity distribution companies operating in Delhi
namely BSES Yamuna, BSES Rajdhani and NDPL as well as Delhi Development Authority.
Besides that Lok Adalats are being organized pertaining to MTNL, MCD and NDMC cases
as and when required. These Lok Adalats have got tremendous response from public and
become extremely popular.

(f) Permanent Legal Services Clinic:- Keeping in mind the fact that doors of justice should
remain open to all even at odd hours, Delhi Legal Services Authority have also made
operational 24 x 7 Permanent Legal Services Clinic located in Central Delhi at Shaheed
Bhagat Singh Place, Gole Market, New Delhi which is a central location convenient to all.
This Clinic is manned by experienced and dedicated officers who are retired bureaucrats,
judges and eminent social personalities. They are available round the clock on telephone
helpline as well as personally and people can approach the clinic in the same manner as they
go to police station for redressing their grievances. Delhi Legal Services Authority is
providing solution to the legal problems and queries raised by General Public through toll
free telephone helpline. Trained Officers, Social Workers and Panel Advocates of the
Authority, listen to their problem on phone give necessary guidance even on phone and
thereby saves a time and money of the poor persons.

105
(g) Mobile legal services clinic:- National Legal Literacy Mission launched by National
Legal Services Authority to empower the citizens with knowledge of their rights and
remedies available to them under the law and create a society based on the foundations of
political awareness, social equalities and women empowerment. Consequently, Delhi Legal
Services Authority started 'Mobile Legal Services Van'. It visits various parts of Delhi like
slum areas, unauthorized colonies, industrial areas, college and schools to create legal
literacy. Mobile Legal Services Van is manned by an experienced, competent and public
spirited counsellor of the Authority. Through Mobile Legal Van, DLSA provides legal aid and
counselling to the target class as well as creates awareness of the Legal Rights and Remedies
available to the beneficiaries under the Law. It also distributes publicity material like
pamphlets, handbills and books prepared by the Authority on social and legal issues. The
Delhi Legal Services Authority has three vehicles engaged in the Mobile Legal Services.
These Mobile Legal Services vehicles regularly visit various police stations in Delhi and
provide immediate legal aid to victims of crimes apart from poor and ignorant people. It is
certain that there has been an overwhelming response to this new measure checking
complaints of violation of human rights and also complaints of police inaction.

(h) Sunday Lok Adalats:- Delhi Legal Services Authority is promoting Alternate Dispute
Resolution System so as to liquidate the mounting arrears of cases in the Criminal Courts. At
present, approximately more than 5 lakh cases under Section 138 Negotiable Instruments Act
are pending before Courts of Metropolitan Magistrates in Delhi. Sunday Lok Adalats have
become a regular feature of the Delhi Legal Services Authority. These Lok Adalats have
become an eye opener and helped deciding large number of cases never settled before. Delhi
Legal Services Authority organizes Lok Adalat for the settlement of cases relating to personal
loan, credit cards etc. advanced by private sector and govt. banks like ICICI, HDFC, Standard
Chartered, ABN AMRO, SBI etc. on every Sunday at pre litigation stage. It provides an
opportunity to the borrower to settle their liability with the bank by negotiation and thereby, it
saves time, energy and money of the people as well as potential litigation is settled at its
inception.

(i) Concilliation proceedings by Mahila Courts:-Delhi Legal Services Authority has

commenced conciliation proceedings by Mahila Courts in all the four District Court
Complexes. Lok Adalat for the settlement of cases pending in Mahila Courts was first
organized on 26.08.07 and thereafter, it is being organized twice a month in all the District

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Court Complexes in Delhi. Statistical information relating to the disposal of the cases by the
Mahila Court is 156 cases out of 385 in 26 sittings. 

(j) Mediation and Conciliation Centre at Rohini Court and Training Programmes for
Advocates:-Delhi Legal Services Authority has established a Mediation and Conciliation
Centre, Commenced Training of Advocates on Mediation & Conciliation and concluded the
2nd Special Plea Bargaining Adalat on 1 October, 2007 at Rohini Court Complex, New
Delhi.

(k) Inauguration of Legal Aid and Counselling Centre at Tihar Jail Court Complex:-
Delhi Legal Services Authority has established a Legal Aid and Counselling Centre in Tihar
Jail Courts Complex, Delhi Prison on 20 of July 2007 at 5:00 PM. The Legal Aid and
Counselling Centre in Tihar Jail Court Complex was Inaugurated by Mr. Justice Ashok Bhan,
Judge, Supreme Court of India & then Executive Chairman, National Legal Services
Authority.

(l) Accreditation of NGO's and Collaboration with Governmental Organizations, Bar

Associations, Colleges, RWA etc.:-Delhi Legal Services Authority has associated with more
than 100 Non-Governmental Organizations as its strategic partners, in implementing its legal
aid Programmes. It has associated governmental organizations like Directorate of Social
Welfare, Delhi Police, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Health Services, Delhi
Commission for Women, Department of Labour etc., Bar Associations, Colleges, Schools,
Resident Welfare Associations and Market Associations in organizing legal literacy
programmes on the contemporary social and legal issues like Domestic Violence, Female
Foeticide, Child Labour, Tobacco Control Act, Women Empowerment etc.
“Access to Justice for all” is the motto of the Authority. The goal is to secure justice to
the weaker sections of the society, particularly to the poor, downtrodden, socially backward,
women, children and handicapped etc. Such steps are needed to be taken to ensure that
nobody is deprived of an opportunity to seek justice merely for want of funds or lack of
knowledge. To ensure this, the Authority organizes Legal Literacy and Awareness Camps in
different parts of NCT of Delhi.
The various important activities of the Delhi Legal Services Authority may be
summarized thus:—
1. To utilize the legal aid funds for legal aid programmes and to ensure quality legal
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 services to the beneficiaries.
2. To organize training and orientation courses to improve the advocacy skills of Legal
Services Advocates.
3. To promote Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism as the preferred mode of dispute
resolution.
4. To establish Mediation and Conciliation Centres at all the Court Complexes and to
impart training to Advocates and Judges in Tools and Techniques of Mediation and
Conciliation.
5. To popularize the Concept of Plea Bargaining by organizing workshops for under trial
Jail Inmates, Legal Services Advocates, Jail and Police Authorities.
6. To establish Legal Aid & Counselling Centre in Tihar Jail Court Complex as well as
different parts of National Capital Territory of Delhi covering the entire length and
breadth of Delhi city.
7. To associate Students of Law Universities, Colleges and Schools in Legal Aid
Activities and legal literacy programmes.
8. To promote legal literacy among people afflicted with poverty, ignorance and
illiteracy and to educate them about the rights and remedies available to them.
9. To eliminate social evils like Child Labour, Domestic Violence, Dowry and Female
Foeticide from the society by creating awareness about their social, legal and cultural
consequences and proposing recommendations for the proper and effective
implementation of legislations prohibiting such practices.
10. To associate, support and collaborate with Governmental and Non Governmental
Organizations in Legal Literacy programmes.
11. To provide training to the Para Legal Workers, Law Students and College Students in
the Legal Aid Activities and to achieve the objectives of National Legal Literacy
Mission launched by National Legal Services Authority.

The Delhi Legal Services Authority has realized that its role which was hitherto confined to
organizing Lok Adalats and legal aid programmes for the poor and downtrodden sections of
the society is not complete in itself and the Delhi Legal Services Authority has ventured into
a nascent area of ensuring the compliance of various welfare measures and schemes as
initiated and promoted by various statutory and constitutional authorities for the benefit of the
weaker sections of the society and in this connection has embarked upon Social Legal Audit
of such authorities and if they are found wanting in their performance appraisal, to initiate
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appropriate measures including filing of Social Justice Litigation/PIL in different Fora, with a
view to discharge its responsibility and perform the duties and tasks assigned to it particularly
by section 4(d) and 4(h) of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and to achieve the
objectives of the Act. The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also taken in all seriousness its
role as assigned under section 4(l) of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and it has
initiated appropriate measures for spreading legal literacy and legal awareness amongst
people and in particular, to educate weaker sections of the society who deserves benefits and
privileges by social welfare legislations and other enactments as well as administrative
programmes and measures.

The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also been organizing various legal awareness
programmes from time to time to sensitize the public about their legal rights as it believes in
the theory that visibility is one of the most important facet of an enforcer of the rights and it
patronizes the dictum that ‘Justice should not only be done but must also seem to be done’.
The Authority recognizes that its presence at the ground level and at the grass-roots is of
substantial importance and the people for whose benefit, various welfare measures and
programmes have been initiated must have a feeling that the Delhi Legal Services Authority
is amongst them present throughout and is not far away from them.
The Delhi Legal Services Authority believes in going to the people rather than asking
the people to come to it. In this connection, the Delhi Legal Services Authority has chartered
its programmes in such a fashion that it is able to celebrate all important days of national
importance like Women’s Day, Labour Day, World Anti-tobacco Day, National Legal
Services Day and other such events in partnership with Governmental and Non-governmental
Organizations amongst the people. In this connection, the Authority has also been organizing
Nukkad Nataks, street plays, skits etc to educate and to generate public awareness on social
and legal issues like Female Foeticide, Child Labour, Domestic Violence against Women etc.
The Delhi Legal Services Authority has also released Documentary films namely
‘Satyamev Jayate’ on legal aid and ‘Desh Ki Shaan Hai Beti’ on women issue. A Radio
programme was also presented on F.M. Rainbow for making general public aware about their
legal rights and laws passed for the eradication of social evils and the Authority has been
coming out with various informative booklets, pamphlets and articles on contemporary social
issues which are of utmost importance to the people belonging to the weaker sections of the
society and of women folk. The Authority has been publishing a quarterly magazine titled
‘Nyaya Kiran’ which contains graphic details about various activities of the Authority along
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with informative articles written by legal luminaries and jurists on topics which are of special
concern and interest to the public at large particularly to people belonging to the weaker
sections of the society. The Authority has also been interacting with the students at various
levels to spread legal awareness amongst them and imbibe into them a culture of compliance
and adherence to the law and legal principles and in this connection, it organized a Traffic
Literacy Camp in association with Springdales School in the month of April, 2008 and a
comprehensive programme to educate the public as well as children were organized at
Talkatora Indoor Stadium to educate the people about the traffic sense and to make them law
abiding.
The Delhi Legal Services Authority is an Authority with an attitude. It does not believe
in status-quoist mentality. It believes in the theory of creating new challenges, achieving them
and then again moving forward by creating further new challenges. It does not wish to rest on
past laurels and believes in moving forward even if at times it may amount to moving against
the currents but it carries itself forward having faith in its philosophy and confidence in its
ability and passion and zeal to serve the society.
Delhi is a centre of attraction being capital of country and even apex court is working
from here. Certain innovative ideas such as conducting of Mega Lok Adalats of traffic
challans, running of mobile van to create awareness, opening of mediation cell under the
aegis of Delhi Legal Services Authority, providing training to lawyers, police officers, judges,
mediators etc. have came in the minds of judges of higher courts and they got it implemented
effectively. Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Arijit Pasayat of Supreme Court, Justice T.S.
Thakur and Justice Vijender Jain of Delhi High Court took keen interest and brought Delhi
Legal Services Authority to much heights. The functioning and activities of Delhi Legal
Services Authority on various occasions were followed by other Legal Services Authorities.
If the comparison of the activities of Delhi Legal Services Authority is compared with other
authorities, then it can be said that the Delhi Legal Services Authority has done much work
and implemented the provisions of Legal Aid Act to its maximum and effective manner. The
record and data of Delhi Legal Services Authority can show that much progress in
implementing the provisions of Legal Aid Act has taken place only in last 5-6 years.
“Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream”.

--Malcolm Muggeridges

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 Almost every country where judiciary has some say, provisions of providing legal aid to
needy and poor person has been made in one way or another but under Indian system, the
way in which it is recognised and established is found missing in judicial systems of other
countaries. In India, there is a statutory backup due to enactment of Legal Aid Act to provide
legal aid to needy, poor, eligible and certain class of socities but in most of other countries,
such availability of service depends upon some societies or associations of lawyers etc.

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 CHAPTER 6

LEGAL AID SERVICES : CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND

CHALLENGES

1. Responsibility of the Legal Services Authorities

The teeming millions of this country, particularly those who live below the poverty line
in villages, tribal, backward and far-flung areas, look towards the Legal Services Authorities
for help and support in resolving their legal problems. When involved in litigation, they often
feel that they are fighting an unequal battle in which the party that has better financial
resources can secure more able legal assistance and so deprive them of equal justice. It is,
therefore, the solemn duty of Legal Services Authorities to ensure that the poor and
downtrodden to whom it provide legal aid do not remain under the impression that they are
getting comparatively inferior legal assistance. Till these are able to remove this impression
from the minds of aided persons, the constitutional promise to provide equal justice to all will
remain a promise on paper. Right to life as guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution of
India, includes right to legal aid. Legal aid also embodied in the directive principle of state as
prescribe under article 39A of the constitution of India.
Article 22 of the Constitution and section 304 of the Criminal Procedure Code
prescribes the right of the accused to engage a lawyer of his choice to defend him in the
criminal cases.
Advocates Act also gives importance to the Legal Aid. Section 9A of Advocates Act
provides:—
(l) A Bar Council may constitute one or more legal aid committee each of
which shall consists of such member or members not extending nine but
not less then five as may be prescribed.
(2) The qualification, the method of the selections and terms of the office of
the Legal Aid committee shall be such as may be prescribed.
Bar Council of India also provides rules/ethics for Advocate in providing Legal Aid. Rule 46
of Part VI of Bar Council of India Rules states:—

Every Advocate shall in practice of the profession of law, bear in

mind that anyone genuinely in need of a lawyer is entitled to
legal assistance even though he cannot pay for it fully or
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 adequately and that within the limits of an advocate's economic
condition, free legal assistance to the indigent and oppressed is
one of the highest obligation an advocate owes to the society.

Bar Council of India Rules also cautioned the advocates not to provide legal service in
charity to the undeserving persons. Rule 38 of Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules
speaks:—'An advocate shall not accept a fee less then the fee taxable under the rules when
the client is able to pay the same.’
In order to fulfill the constitutional obligation, the Legal Service Authority Act, 1987
was enacted to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker section of the society.
The Act further meant to organize Lok Adalats to secure the operation of the legal systems to
promote justice on basis of equal opportunity.
This Act prescribes different legal service committees and also provides for formation
of legal aid fund at national level, state level and district level etc. Section 12 of the Legal
Service Authority Act provides the criteria for entitlement to legal services. To get legal
services, the person filing or defending the case must be—

(i) a member of a Schedule Caste or a Schedule Tribe;

(ii) a victim of trafficking in human being or beggar as referred to in Article
23 of the Constitution;
(iii) a women or a child;
(iv) a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person;
(v) a victim of mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought,
earthquake or industrial disaster; or
(vi) an industrial workman; or
(vii) a person in custody; or
(viii) a person having annual income less than rupees nine thousand or such
other higher amount as prescribed by the State Government, if the case is
before a court other than the Supreme Court and less than rupees twelve
thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the
Central Government, if the case is before the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has taken a step for providing legal aid to the poor
at free of cost but legal aid for middle-income group at a reasonable cost. According to this

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scheme person having income upto Rs. 10,000/- per month or Rs.1,20,000/- per annum are
entitled to legal aid. Under the Chairmanship of a sitting judge of Supreme Court, a society
was formed as Legal Aid Society For Middle Income Group, where a panel of advocates on
record is available. A person shall engage a lawyer from among this panel and pay the
prescribed lawyers fees as well as court fee which is very reasonable, practical and self
supported.
Mere fact that a person is not falling in the category of poor person on basis of income
criteria under section 12 of the Legal Aid Act and relevant rules framed under it is not
debarred to get his matter referred to Lok Adalat under section 20 of the Act. The
disentitlement of person to get free legal aid has no concern with taking up the matter in the
Lok Adalat.110
The status of women and children itself is sufficient to provide them legal aid
irrespective of their income and financial position. If such women and children approaches
the legal aid authority or committee then they must be provided such aid without going
through the question what is their financial position and whether they can engage their own
advocates or not or can bear the expenses of litigation or not.111
A woman being weaker section of the society is entitled to free legal aid. Where a
woman approaches to court, first and foremost stand of the court to inform her that she is
entitled for free legal aid and where she prays for the same, court is bound to expeditiously
deal with the application and provide free legal aid to her or send the application to
appropriate authority. It is not only the duty of the court to enforce law or protect the rights of
the citizens but also to make them know of their rights also. In this case directions were also
given by the High Court that on the notice/summon issued to the litigants eligible for free
legal aid, it be mentioned in visible form in regional language so that this category of litigants
may know of this right. This be put in the Notice or summons on the top and advocate
appearing on behalf of this category give declaration along with his vakalatnama on approach
to him he made known to this class of litigant that they are entitled for free legal aid.112
Where despite of having been made known of her or his this legal right under the
Legal Aid Act, the litigant of the category enumerated under Section 12 of the Act does not

110
Ahmed Pasha v. C. Gulnaz Jabeen AIR 2001 Karnataka 412

111
Amankumar Lalitbhai Parekh v. Pritiben Amankumar Parekh 2000 (2) F.J.C.C. 356 (Guj)

112
Ashok Kumar Kantilal Rathod v. Bhavanaben Ashokkumar Rathod 2001 (2) R.C.R.(Civil) 47 (Guj)

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desire to get the free legal service the Advocate concerned to mention and bring it to the
notice of the Court concerned in the form of formal declaration of his own or of the litigant
concerned to be enclosed to the petition, suit, application, revision and appeal etc. as the case
may be, which is presented in the Court. The Court, on the first available opportunity to it to
ascertain from the litigant concerned whether he or she is desirous of taking the free legal
services or not; where he or she desires to get this benefits, he or she may be directed to
approach the concerned Legal Service Committee or the Authority. Where the litigant of this
category as enumerated under Section 12 of the Act is not desirous to avail of his/her this
legal right, the court may proceed in the matter. The court may have to record this fact in the
proceedings.113
Even if such eligible person entitled to free legal aid under section 12 of the Legal Aid
Act has filed a case through his/her own advocate, the court can exempt such person to pay
any requisite court fees.114
Human resources are very vital for operation of legal aid. The skill and competence of
lawyers, judges and clerical staffs should be improved and updated. More staffs should be
provided to judges for legal aid activities including a permanent Lok Adalat. Computers and
other communication facilities should be provided for smooth function of legal aid and
required budgetary allocation is to be made.
All the persons involved in promoting legal aid need to co-ordinate properly. The
legal aid should not be a responsibility and monopoly of legal fraternity. The corporate sector
and NGO should participate in the activity of the legal aid with dedication. Lethargic attitude
and red-tapism should not be tolerated.
In Hussainara Khatoon (IV) v. Home Secretary115 the Supreme Court emphasizes that
free legal services is an inalienable element of reasonable, fair and just procedure. Without it
a person suffering form economic or other disabilities would be denied justice.
Legal assistance to a poor or indigent accused under arrest and put in jeopardy of his
life and personal liberty is a constitutional imperative mandated not only by article 39-A but
also by articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India. Legal Services Authorities and
Committees as well as lawyers must positively reach out to those sections of humanity who

113
Surgeev v. Sushila Bai, AIR 2003 Rajasthan 149

114
Anar Devi v. Chandra Devi AIR 2005 Rajasthan 270

115
(1980) 1 SCC 89 : AIR 1979 SC 1369.

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are poor, illiterate and ignorant and who, when they are placed in a crisis such as an
accusation of crime and arrest or imprisonment, do not know what is arrest or imprisonment,
do not know what to do or where to go or to whom to turn. 116 Voluntary organizations and
social action groups engaged in legal aid programs must be encouraged and supported by the
state.117

2. Accountability of other Authorities towards Legal Services Authorities

Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 constitutes the Legal Services Authorities to provide
free and competent legal service to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that the
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic and
other disabilities. The expression legal service has been defined in section 2 (c) to include
rendering of any service in the conduct of any case or any other legal proceedings before any
court or other authority or tribunal and giving advice on any legal matter. The definition is
inclusive and does not exhaustively enumerate what would constitute legal services.
The concept of Legal Services Authorities and their role in the context of seeking
accountability from the various public bodies performing social welfare functions so as to
make them more responsible and more sensitive to the needs of the target groups of the
various schemes is inbuilt in the conceptualization of the Legal Services Authorities. The
Preamble to the Legal Services Authorities Act provides as under:-

An Act to constitute legal services authorities to provide free and competent

legal service to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities
for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or
other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of
the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.

The bare perusal of the said preamble would reveal that one of the important functions of the
Legal Services Authorities is to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to
any citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities. If a person remains financially poor
or suffers from other disabilities he has already lost the race before starting it and is severely
impaired and handicapped in securing justice for any of the ills and maladies being suffered
by him. The preamble to the Constitution of India also strives to secure to all it citizens,
116
Sheela Bharse v. State of Maharashtra AIR 1983 SC 378.

117
Central Legal Research v. State of Kerala, AIR1986 SC 1322.

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amongst other things, justice social, economic and political.
Section 4 of the Act enumerates the functions of the Central Authority also called the
National Legal Services Authority established under section 3 thereof. These functions, inter
alia, include laying down policies and principles for making legal services available under
the provision of the Act and taking necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with
regard to consumer protection, environmental protection or any other matter of special
concern to the weaker sections of the society. Section 4 (d) of the Legal Services Authorities
Act, 1987 reads as hereunder—

4. Functions of the Central Authority---The Central Authority shall

perform all or any of the following functions, namely:—
(a) to (c)------
(d) Take necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to
consumer protection, environmental protection or any other matter of ‘special
concern to the weaker sections of the society and for this purpose, give
training to social workers in legal skills’.

The Central Authority is also required to take appropriate measures, for spreading legal
literacy and legal awareness among the people and to educate the weaker sections of the
society about their rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by social welfare and other
legislations as well as “Administrative Programmes and Measures”. It is also under
obligation to undertake and promote research in the field of legal services with special
reference to the need for such services among the poor. It is supposed to monitor the
functions of the State Authorities, District Authorities, High Court Legal Services
Committees, Taluk Legal Services Committee and voluntary social service institutions and
organizations and issue general directions for the proper implementation of the legal services
programmes.
Similarly, the functioning of the State Authorities are enumerated in section 7 of the
Act, which includes a duty to give effect to the policies and directions of the Central
Authority and to perform such other functions as the State Authority may in consultation with
the Central Authority fix by Regulations.
The Central Government and State Governments, respectively in consultation with the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and respective High Courts, in exercise of the powers

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conferred upon it under section 27 and 28 of the Act can frame Rules to carry out the
provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Different State Authorities including
Delhi Legal Services Authorities have framed Legal Services Authority Regulations in
exercise of the powers conferred upon them by section 29A of the Act read with section 2(ff)
of the Act. These regulations inter-alia stipulate the functions which the respective State
Authorities have to discharge in addition to the functions to be performed by them under
section 7(1), (2) (a) to (d) of the Act.
Regulation 4 (2) of the Delhi Legal Services Authority Regulation, 2002 inter alia
provides that the State Authority may itself file PIL or may finance PIL before appropriate
courts in the state, if it is satisfied that such litigation is for the general benefit of a large body
or class of persons who cannot by themselves take recourse to law due to penury, illiteracy or
other similar reasons. Section 4 (2) of The Delhi Legal Services Authority Regulation, 2002
reads as hereunder—

The State Authority may itself file Public Interest Litigation or may finance
Public Interest Litigation before appropriate courts in the State if it is satisfied
that such litigations are for the general benefit of a large body or class of
persons who cannot by themselves take recourse to law due to penury, illiteracy
or other similar reasons.

Similar provisions as above are contained in the Regulations framed by various other States
Authorities, which authorize the State Authority to file by itself or to finance PIL for the
benefit of the poorer sections of the society who on account of their illiteracy or such other
disabilities are unable to do so themselves.
The scheme of the Act and the Regulations thus make it clear that the functions of the
State Legal Services Authorities are not limited to framing and monitoring legal aid
programmes or to encourage and expedite settlement of disputes through Legal Aid and Lok
Adalats and to initiate Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness programmes only. The role of the
authority extends to taking steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to the
following:

i. Consumer Protection,
ii. Environmental Protection and
iii. Matters of special concern of the weaker sections of the society.
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Section 4 (d) of the Act makes it clear that the social justice litigation with regard to the
above matters is one of the functions of the Central Authority. In the same spirit, regulations
framed by the State Authorities authorize them to file PIL for the general benefit of the poorer
and less fortunate sections of the society who are unable by themselves to do so.
The State Authorities are by reason of section 7(1) of the Act duty bound to inter alia
give effect to the policies and directions of the Central Authority which policy must
necessarily be such as promotes the objectives underlying the Act and facilitate the discharge
of the functions entrusted to the Central Authority.
The experience of the past two decades has shown that the Authorities have done
commendable job in the field of providing legal aid to the deserving sections of the society.
Despite, the limited resources at their disposal, the Authorities have not only facilitated the
disposal of sizeable number of the cases at pre-litigative stage and others pending before the
courts, they have also taken pains to spread legal literacy and legal awareness among the
people so as to educate them about their rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by social
welfare legislation and other enactments. What however has remained by and large neglected
is spreading awareness among the weaker sections of the society about their rights flowing
from ‘Administrative Programmes and Measures’, which happens to be one of the areas of
concerns of the Central Authority.

Section 4(l) of the Act makes this abundantly clear; it reads:—

“Take appropriate measures for spreading legal literacy and legal awareness
amongst the people and in particular, to educate weaker sections of the society
about the rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by social welfare
legislations and other enactments as well as administrative programmes and
measures.”

There is thus no manner of doubt that in the light of the above specific provisions contained
in the legislation, the State Authorities cannot neglect their obligations in the matter of
spreading awareness among the people about their rights flowing from legislative and
administrative programmes and measures meant for the benefit of the poorer sections.
Placed in juxtaposition, the obligation cast upon the Central Authority under section

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4(d) of the Act (supra) to take steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to specific
areas identified in the said provision makes it abundantly clear that not only is awareness
about the rights flowing from Administrative Programmes and Measures an obligation but the
said obligation is accompanied by a further and more onerous obligation – the obligation to
institute legal proceedings to secure social justice for the poorer sections of the society
particularly, with regard to “consumer protection, environmental protection or any other
matters of special concern to such weaker sections.
Not many such social justice litigations have been instituted by the State Authorities in
this country. That is for the reason that the Authorities have remained pre-occupied with the
discharge of their obligation to provide legal aid to the deserving sections of the society
which is limited to providing free legal counsel to the deserving litigants and holding Lok
Adalats, establishing and running mediation, counseling and conciliation centres and holding
legal literacy programmes. Time has however come when the Legal Services Authorities
should widen the sphere of their activities and make themselves more useful to the weaker
sections for whose benefits such Authorities have been established. It is in that regard
important to remember that not only is an awareness regarding the rights of the poorer
sections flowing from legislative administrative programmes and measures important but in
the event of a failure or neglect of such programmes by the functionary concerned, filing of a
PIL on behalf of the beneficiaries also forms an important part of the duty assigned to the
Authority.
Contrary to the common belief that the Act does not empower the State Authorities to
take remedial action wherever there is a failure on the part of the State Authorities and other
functionaries, the scheme of the Act specifically provides for an effective mechanism and
empowers the State Authorities to institute litigation to ensure social justice by particular
reference to the areas specified in section 4 (d) of the Act. These areas, it is note worthy,
covers not only consumer protection, environmental protection but extends “to any other
matter of special concern to the weaker sections of the society” Social welfare schemes for
the benefit of poorer sections of the society which the Government of India and State
Government have formulated in plenty thus fall within the purview of scrutiny by the Legal
Services Authorities. The Authorities can look into the schemes, evaluate the efficacy of the
implementation and in case if comes to the conclusion that the authorities and the functionary
have not done what ought to be done for the benefit of the beneficiary of such schemes, to
institute PIL. This would ensure proper implementation of the schemes.
The concept of accountability and the role of Legal Services Authorities in seeking the
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performance appraisal from the various welfare bodies of the Government and ensuring that
the various welfare measures of the Government agencies reach their target groups cannot be
over-emphasized. In fact, the Act enjoins upon the Legal Services Authorities the onerous
responsibility to take necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to
Consumer Protection, Environmental protection or any other matter of special concern to the
weaker sections of the society and thus a duty has been cast upon the Legal Services
Authorities to ensure that the interest of the weaker sections of the society are safeguarded
and protected especially in areas of consumer protection, matters of environmental protection
or of any other matter of special concern to the weaker sections of the society.
The Phrase-‘Special concern to the weaker sections of the society’ is not to be read as
‘ejusdem’ generis’ but has to be given the widest possible amplitude as per the well-set rules
of the interpretation since the Legal Services Authorities Act is a social welfare legislation.
The areas of the special concern to the weaker sections of the society may include the
educational facilities, availability of portable water/drinking water, availability of medical
facilities and medical aid as far as possible at the doorsteps of the poor persons, employment
opportunities to the persons belonging the poorer sections of the society, availability of
subsidized rations to the poor people and persons below the poverty line, crime against
women folk including incidence of domestic violence and various other related subjects.
One may appreciate that once the right, power and locus standi of the Legal Services
Authorities to file social justice litigation as a representative body of the weaker sections of
the society is established and accepted, there is an inbuilt power to seek accountability from
various public bodies who are entrusted with the job of providing various reliefs and to
initiate the rehabilitation measures so as to safeguard and ensure that the beneficiaries of
various ameliorative schemes of the government receive and secure the benefit which is
intended for them. It may be noted that Late Sh.Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India
has once remarked that out of the relief of One Rupee sanctioned by the Government only
Fifteen Paisa reaches the poor who constitute the target group.
It may be further appreciated that the courts are already heavily over-burdened and to
file PILs for each and every thing before evaluating the pros and cons of each welfare
schemes and drawing a balance sheet of the performance of the public body concerned so as
to pinpoint the shortfall areas and to highlight the focus areas as well which require added
efforts and more emphatic work performance would not be desirable nor expedient and
efficacious.
What flows as a necessary corollary from the above is that the Legal Services
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Authorities would be entitled to evaluate the working of the schemes and ask questions from
the concerned authorities, if an occasion to do so arises. It is here that the Authorities have to
perform a role of socio legal audit of the implementation of such schemes. Such audit and the
process of the evaluation would be not only in keeping with the spirit of Act but would be
absolutely essential to enable the Authority to decide whether the failure, if any, deserves to
be remedied by judicial intervention of a competent court in a PIL to be filed by it.
The Legal Services Authority would therefore be acting within its powers and rights if it
seeks information from a public body entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding a
public property as to what steps have been taken by the said public body to safeguard a
particular property and further the Legal Services Authority is competent to ask for the
reasons on account of shortfalls, if any, in the role of that public authority in safeguarding
public property. Further, the Legal Services Authority can seek explanation from a public
body which is entrusted with maintaining law and order as to what steps have been taken by
the public body concerned to prevent the crime against women folk and what are the reasons
for shortfalls in the performance of that public body, if any in ensuring that security concerns
of the women folk are addressed and taken sufficient care off. There can be so many
examples of the schemes and projects which the Legal Services Authorities can take up and
all matters of special concern to the weaker sections of the society as well as various facets of
Consumer Protection Laws, Environment Protection Laws, crime against women including
domestic violence and social justice legislations would form part of it.
In India, the legal services programmes could employ a combination of the duty
solicitor and public defender models, along with the judicare model in seeking to reach the
large ‘unmet area’ in need of legal services. The experiences in other countries where such a
combination has been tried out can be usefully adapted to Indian conditions.
Normally, government passes a lot of Social Welfare Legislation but no one really cares
to find out whether this social legislation is effective or not. This is something which the
other Authorities and organizations can do. Lawyers once they acquire the Lawyering skills
which help the poor, start minting money and become different kind of lawyers. That is
something also which should be done by the organizations providing legal aid. Legal Aid
Clinics also serve a very useful purpose and most of the colleges in the country have got
Legal Aid Clinics where the final year students participate in Legal Aid Programmes under
the guidance of their teachers. We can take some students in confidence, get them to work up
on the brief and actually assist the lawyer in the work and in pleading his case. With these
kind of experiments, we can give them practical training apart from sensitizing them. Of
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course, sensitizing is most important. Otherwise, once they grow to become lawyers and start
earning money they forget everything else. Of course, they must come to the platforms, speak
about legal aid. It is heard that many lawyers and judges do it. But how many of them have
done legal aid work, how many of them have actually argued cases for the poor without
charging any fees. It is very easy to sit on or stand on a platform and speak on legal aid but
what is required to be done is actual practice of Legal Aid. That is something which will help
the people. In fact, In Harvard Law School there is very good Legal Aid Clinic and also in
some other Universities in the United States where students actually come and argue cases, of
course under the guidance of their teachers. But that is also something that can and should be
encouraged by our Bar Councils. Bar Councils must take up this programme in consultation
with and under the guidance of Legal Aid Authorities.
There should be some serious efforts by various bodies and departments to inform the
public of the existence of the legal services. Electronic Media should be liberally used,
aggressive campaigns need to be launched. Rather than wait for the needy to approach Legal
Services Authorities, efforts should be made by reputed NGOs to identify people in need of
free legal services.
Judicial Officers can take the responsibility of sensitizing the marginalized sections of
the society to schemes and programmes launched by the legal Services Authorities from time
to time during the course of even discharging judicial functions.
The legal awareness can be spread through distributing pamphlets, conducting street
plays, making of documentary films, which can be showed on the television and lectures in
the legal aid camps especially in the rural areas. Non Governmental Organizations can also
contribute and play an effective role towards the spread of legal literacy.
The student lawyers should be involved in the programme of spreading awareness about
the Legal Services Authorities Act in both urban and rural areas. It will not only be an
invaluable help to the movement but the students themselves will be immensely benefited by
their direct exposure to the glaring injustice existing in the so called modern society.

3. Role of NGOs
Keeping in view the nature and magnitude of the problems in the social welfare sector,
NGOs have been involved in the implementation of various Legal Aid Programmes as such
NGOs normally came into contact of poor people in the remote area directly and understand
their basic problems. Their role as motivators/facilitators which enables the community to

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chalk out an effective strategy for tackling social problems need to be further strengthened.
It would, therefore, follow that the Legal Services Authorities cannot sit as a mute
spectator and see plight of the down-trodden and weaker sections of the society with their
nexalites with a sense of bewilderment and feeling helpless to do anything to improve upon
their living conditions and overall standard of life and see the continuous erosion in the value
system of the entire polity and the obliteration of a social justice mechanism. The Legal
Services Authorities have to come out of their ivory towers and work proactively to safeguard
the interest of have-nots regarding which they have been made the sole repository by the
Legal Services Authorities Act and to bridge the ever widening gulf between the haves and
the have-nots. The Legal Services Authorities beside being a part of the government must
have the temerity to ask the questions from the non-performing departments of the
government even if it annoys the government as it would obviously do, and further if the
answers to the questions are unsatisfactory, do not even hesitate to file the litigations before
the appropriate forum for the vindication of the rights of the weaker sections and people
belonging to lower strata of society regarding which the Legal Services Authorities have been
made the custodians.
One of the reasons which reduce the credibility of the judiciary in the minds of the
people is that justice is delayed to an intolerable extent. Delayed decisions, piled up files and
indefinitely extending projects are the real roadblocks to development of any state or nation.
Generally, delayed decisions take its maximum toll from the under privileged and poor
section of our society, who are always treated as animals. They are often denied of their bare
amenities of life. Delayed justice system is also one of the reasons which facilitate
government policies to be prolonged and stretched and cause more and more harms to public
at large. There are number of reasons for delay in justice in India. Some of main reasons are
—(i) Increase in litigation--people now a days are in the habit of dragging their point of
grievances to the court of law, which rather can be solved outside the purview of the court.
(ii) Non-adherence with the code properly by the judges and the lawyers both add to same
cause in a greater extent. (iii) Non-equipment of judicial system with actual number of judges
and infrastructure as required and (iv) inflexible attitude and non-term of government for
contributing maximum to the backlog.
As on 30-6-2009, there were total 52592 cases were pending disposal before
Supreme Court and 4017956 cases were pending before different High Courts in India. The
number of cases before subordinate courts in all over India was 27110092 which were

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awaiting logical conclusion.118
While it can be understood that delay may occur in the civil cases but the same is
not expected in the criminal proceedings. If we compare these two on the basis of its disposal
then it is very much advent that criminal justice system is at its worst and this position leads
to a situation where the common man had lost its complete trust on the efficacy of the
criminal redressal system.
As on 31-12-2008 total 2631399 cases under section 138 of N.I. Act were pending in
different courts in India whereas on 1-1-2008, the pendency was 2207273. During the whole
year from 1-1-2008 to 31-12-2008, fresh cases instituted were 1373575 whereas disposal was
949449. This statistics showing the comparison of disposal and pendency of cases reveal the
actual state of justice in India today.119
On an average 50 lakh crimes are registered every year, which are sought to be
investigated by the police. The pendency of criminal cases in subordinate courts was 1.94
crores as on 30-6-2009 whereas 76 lakhs civil cases were pending on that day. Out of total
sanctioned strength of subordinate court judges at 16946, there were 2783 vacancies existing
on 30-6-2009. On an average 19 percent of the pending cases are disposed of every year.120
A decade of waiting is not much time in deciding a case in India. It is equally applicable
to civil and criminal trials. The legal process in India is always protracted, with parties being
made to spend an unlimited amount of money and to run from one place to another in
pursuing their claims in court. There are numerous reasons for this protracted process, which
in fact could be eliminated by conscious efforts.
In civil cases one such delay is primarily caused by technical snags and delaying tactics
by the lawyers. The attitude of the judges once the case has finally been heard, resulting in
the reservation of any open pronouncement of the judgment for years are another contributing
factor.
In criminal cases the delay starts from the very inability and often refusal of the
investigating agency to submit a charge sheet in court in time after the proper completion of
an investigation. Even if the charge sheet is submitted, the prosecutors' office also plays a role
in delaying the process. Often many courts do not have sufficient prosecutors to represent
cases as and when they are taken up. In a local Magistrate Court in Wadakkanchery, Kerala
118
Annual Report 2008-09 of Supreme Court of India
119
Annual Report 2008-09 of Supreme Court of India
120
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State for instance, prosecutions were stalled for years due to the fact that the only prosecutor
available was on deputation from another court and only when this officer had enough spare
time, he would turn up at the Wadakkanchery court. By the end of one year the number of
criminal cases pending disposal before the court becomes so large that it will take several
years to clear off these cases as every year the number accumulates to the existing backlog. It
is shocking to note that when the backlog of cases increases, judges connive with police
officers and force people to plead guilty on charges so that cases can be summarily tried and
finished.
Another element causing delay in proceedings is the lack of infrastructure to deal with
evidence. The police officials in India are neither trained to gather evidence scientifically nor
understand the importance of forensic evidence. It is common for material objects to be
wrapped in newspapers and bound by jute threads and then produced in court. The safety of
the contents depends upon the quality of newsprint. Given the climatic conditions in India,
this evidence can be easily damaged within a few months, which is often well before any
preliminary hearing is heard.
In cases where there is a need for forensic examination, the situation is even worse. The
objects requiring forensic examination will be detained at the central or state forensic lab for
anywhere up to 15 years. This reflects upon the facilities provided for these labs and also the
work habits of the forensic technicians. The evidence held at such labs is also prone to
manipulation or destruction as demonstrated in the state of Kerala, where an 'accidental'
explosion destroyed several pieces of evidence pending examination. The handling of human
remains and dead bodies is equally bad. In cases where there is a requirement of finger print
examination or handwriting examination, the minimum period required for the result to be
sent back to the referral court from the forensic lab is ten years, only to the benefit of
'government recognized' private experts.
These technical hindrances that cause delay in court proceedings furthermore affect the
quality of evidence given by witnesses. When a witness is required to testify for an incident,
he saw a decade earlier and his recollection of events will often be tempered with by time.
This may affect the quality of his testimony, as well as the entire trial. Evidence can also be
affected due to the lack of witness protection provided to those willing to testify. More
susceptible to threats and intimidation, the longer a case is drawn out and witnesses may alter
their evidence out of fear or even withdraw from the case.
The lack of basic infrastructure within the entire justice system is another crucial issue
that causes delays and inefficiency. When a prosecutor's office wants to communicate with a
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particular police station, there is no mechanism available other than the initiative of the
prosecutor to spend from his own pocket or to make the interested party pay for this
communication, if the entire proceedings are not to be stalled. This lack of basic
infrastructure not only results in the delay of proceedings but is also a root cause for
corruption.
Even the Supreme Court of India - the highest court in the country - is immune to
delays. Its much acclaimed judgment in the D.K. Basu’s121 case in 1996, known for its
directives aimed to prevent custodial torture, took ten years to be reached. If a judgment takes
this long in the Supreme Court, what can be expected from courts of lesser authority?
In 124 Law Commission Report published in the year 1987, a need was shown to raise
the strength of judges by five times to the existing strength. 122 According to statistics,
acknowledged by the former Chief Justice of India, Justice Bharucha, the Judge population
ratio is 12-13 judges per million. On 10 April, 2004 there were 163 vacancies at various High
Courts throughout India. A study conducted by the Ministry of Finance reveals that at the
current rate it will take 324 years to dispose of the backlogs of cases in Indian courts. The
Law Commission of India in its 189 th report published in February, 2004 acknowledged that
over two million cases are pending in about 13,000 district subordinate courts. About two-
thirds of these are criminal cases, while about a million are Sessions cases which involve
heinous offences such as murder, rape, dacoity. About 30 per cent of the Sessions cases have
been pending for three years or more.
The denial of justice through delay is the biggest mockery of law, but in India it is not
limited to mere mockery; the delay in fact kills the purpose of the entire justice
dispensation system of the country. This has led to people settling scores on their own,
resulting in a growing number of criminal syndicates in the country and reflecting the loss of
people's confidence in the rule of law.

4) Role of Judiciary and Legal Services Authorities in developing

Conciliatory Forum.
The object of developing Conciliatory Forums is to have adequate methods of arriving
at conciliation in matter and to avoid protracted litigation in courts. Litigation in common
parlance is the mode of settlement of a dispute arising between two parties where one of the
121
AIR 1997 SC 610: 1997 AIR SCW 233: 1996 (10 ) Suppl. SCR 284, (1997) 1 SCC 416, (1996) 9
SCALE 298 , 1997 (1) JT 1
122
Annual Report 2008-09 of Supreme Court of India

127
parties seeks to redress its grievances against another party through the forum of the courts.
The Black’s Law Dictionary defines ‘litigation’ as the process of carrying on a law suit or a
law suit itself, while a ‘litigant’ is defined as a party to a law suit. Thus, litigation is a matter
in court where the party seeks to resolve the differences/disputes with the other party.
However, it is well known that in most of the developed countries litigation is the last
resort. In the Western countries approximately 6 to 10 per cent of the disputes go to litigation
for trial in a court of law. Why does this happen? It is because parties try and adopt different
methods of settling disputes outside the court and these methods are commonly known as
‘alternate dispute resolution’, such as arbitration, mediation, conciliation, settlement, etc.
The word ‘Conciliation’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Concilium’ which means
‘council’. In the olden days, the disputes used to be resolved in that manner. In the modern
world as per layman’s definition, conciliation is a manner of bringing the parties to a table to
sit down and try and revolve the disputes and differences between each other and arrive at a
settlement without going to the court. This can take place in a manner by negotiation or by
understanding each other’s problems and neutral person is appointed who meets with the
parties and tries to mediate or make them realize the actual and factual realities between the
parties at such sittings to resolve their disputes.

The Indian courts are clogged with more then three crore cases and thus ways and
means to decrease it, there are adequate alternative method for the resolution of the dispute
available. Legal Services Authorities in all the States have been made with the purpose of
giving advice also on any legal matter. Section 2 (c) of The Legal Services Authorities Act,
1987 defines ‘legal service’ as:

Includes the rendering of any services in the conduct of any case or other legal
proceedings before any court or other authority or tribunal and the giving of
advice on any legal matter.

There should be a panel of professional conciliators on a full-time basis to be available for the
purpose of resolving the disputes and differences between parties by settling the disputes by
using mediation and conciliation proceedings. Just as all the Legal Services Authorities have
panels of advocates and senior advocates to conduct cases on behalf of the litigants in courts
providing free legal aid; similarly each of the Legal Services Committees at the Taluk level,
at the District level as also at the High Court and Supreme Court levels, should prepare

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panels of such fill-time conciliators who are available for the resolution of disputes without
going to court. This can be easily done within the purview of Legal Services Authorities Act,
1987 especially in the light of section 25 which specifically provides that the provisions of
the Act shall have an overriding effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent contained in
any other law for the time being in force.

Since all the Legal Services Authorities, whether at the National level or at the State level or
at the District level are manned by high judicial functionaries, the very fact that they would
take active part and interest in the development of conciliatory forums would show the role of
judiciary itself. Further, the role of the judiciary in developing legal aid and access to justice
for all is very well apparent from the various decisions of the Supreme Court.

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 In the case of Centre for Legal Research v. State of Kerala 123 Chief Justice P.N.
Bhagwati had answered the question as to whether voluntary organization or social action
groups engaged in the legal aid programme should be supported by the state government and,
if so, to what extent and under what conditions. The Chief Justice said that there should not
be any doubt that if the legal aid programmes are to succeed, it must involve public
participation. But he had no doubt that despite the sense of social commitment which
animates many of our officers in the administration of justice, no legal aid programme could
succeed in reaching the people if its operation remains confined in the hands of the
Administration, because he felt that it is the social entitlement of the people and those in need
of legal assistance could not be looked upon as mere beneficiaries of the legal aid programme
but they should be regarded as participants in it. It was felt by the Chief Justice that in order
to secure people’s participation involvement in the legal aid programme, the best way of
securing it is to operate through voluntary organizations and social action groups and that
such groups must be encouraged and supported for operating the legal aid programmes as
such programmes were needed for the purpose of reaching social justice to the people. In this
case, Chief Justice laid down the norms which would provide sufficient guidance to the states
to implement the legal aid for access to justice for all.
In the case of Bajiban Salambhai Chauhan v. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport
Corporation124, the Supreme Court on finding that the petitioners were very poor and were
not in a position to prosecute their claim arising out of motor accident on account of their
extreme poverty, held that such persons should not be left without any remedy and should be
provided legal aid.
Further, in Kishore Chand v. State of Himachal Pradesh, 125 the Supreme Court held that
through heinous crimes are committed under great secrecy and investigation of a crime is a
difficult and tedious task but at the same time the liberty of a citizen is a precious one
guaranteed by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also Article 21 of
the Constitution of India. The accused had the Fundamental Right to defend himself under
Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and right to defence included right
to effective and meaningful defence and such meaningful defence is a facet of fair procedure
and an inbuilt right to life and liberty envisaged under Article 21, thus holding that legal aid
123
AIR 1986 SC 2195.
124
1990 (33) SCC 769
125
AIR 1990 SC 2140.

130
must be treated as part of the right created under Article 21.
In Supreme Court Legal Aid Committees v. Union of India126, a three Judges Bench of
the Supreme Court having found that the rules under section 28 of the Legal Services
Authorities Act, 1987 had not been framed by many states nor regulations framed under
section 29 as a result of which High Court Legal Services Committees could not be
constituted, directed after finding that despite a lapse of more than two years since the
coming into force of the Act on 9.11.1995, the states which had not framed the rules should
do so within two months of the order and also directed thereafter to take steps to constitute
the various committees as contemplated by the Act. If adequate Conciliatory Forums would
be developed, it would go a long way in easing the burden on the courts while, at the same
time, easing the burden on the pocket of the litigants.

5) Judicial Hunch
Just like the rationale behind providing legal aid has undergone a sea-change, from it
being more of a charitable, non-enforceable obligation to one being provided at the State’s
expense, there has been a tremendous response from the judiciary as far as interpreting the
right to legal aid in consonance with the right to life is concerned. After the landmark
decision in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India,127 major developments were made in the
development of the right to life jurisprudence under article 21 of the Constitution. The
linkage between article 21 and the right to free legal aid was discussed in detail in the
decision given by Supreme Court in Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar,128 where the court
was shocked by the plight of thousands of under-trials languishing in the jails in Bihar for
years without ever being represented by a lawyer. The Court declared that “there can be no
doubt that speedy trial, and by speedy trial, we mean reasonably expeditious trial, is an
integral and essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21.”
The Court pointed out that article 39A emphasized that free legal service was an inalienable
element of ‘reasonable, fair and just’ procedure and that the right to free legal services was
implicit in the guarantee of article 21 for a person accused of an offence. This was a case
where it was found by Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice D.A. Desai that many under-trial
prisoners in different jails in the State of Bihar had been in jail for period longer than the

126
1998 (5) SCC 762 : 1998 (2) SCALE 79
127
(1978) 1 SCC 248 : (1978) 2 SCR 621 : AIR 1978 SC 597.

128
(1980) 1 SCC 89 : AIR 1979 SC 1369.

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maximum terms for which they would have been sentenced, if convicted, and that their
retention in jails was totally unjustified and in violation of the fundamental rights of personal
liberty under article 21 of the Constitution. While disclosing shocking state of affairs and
callousness of our legal and judicial system causing enormous misery and sufferings to the
poor and illiterate citizens resulting into totally unjustified deprivation of personal liberty,
Justice P.N. Bhagwati (as he then was), made following observations in para 6 of the
judgment, which are thought provoking:—

This unfortunate situation cries aloud for introduction of an

adequate and comprehensive legal service programmes, but so
far, these cries do not seem to have evoked any response. We do
not think it is possible to reach the benefits of the legal process to
the poor to protect them against injustice and to secure to them
their constitutional and statutory rights unless there is a nation-
wide legal service programme to provide free legal services to
them.
Two years thereafter, Justice P.N. Bhagwati while referring to the Supreme Court’s
mandate in the aforesaid Hossainara Khatun’s case, has commented that it is
unfortunate that though this Court declared the right to legal aid as a fundamental
right of an accused person by a process of judicial construction of article 21, most of
the states in the country have not taken note of this decision and provided free legal
services to a person accused of an offence. The State is under a constitutional mandate
to provide free legal aid to an accused person who is unable to secure legal services
on account of indigence and whatever is necessary for this purpose has to be done by
the state. The State may have its financial constraints and its priorities in expenditure
but the law does not permit any government to deprive its citizens of constitutional
rights on the plea of poverty.129
In 1986, in another case of Sukhdas v. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh,130
Justice P.N. Bhagwati, once again, while referring to the earlier decision of Hossainara
Khatun’s case and some other cases had made the following observations in para 6 of the said
judgment:—

129
Khatri v. State of Bihar, AIR 1981 S.C 926.
130
AIR 1986 SC 991.

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 Now it is common knowledge that about 70% of the people living
in rural areas are illiterate and even more than that percentage of
the people are not aware of the rights conferred upon them by law.
Even literate people do not know what are their rights and
entitlements under the law. It is this absence of legal awareness
which is responsible for the deception, exploitation and
deprivation of rights and benefits from which the poor suffer in
this land. Their legal needs always stand to become crisis oriented
because their ignorance prevents them from anticipating legal
troubles and approaching a lawyer for consultation and advise in
time and their poverty magnifies the impact of the legal troubles
and difficulties when they come. Moreover, because of their
ignorance and illiteracy, they cannot become self-reliant; they
cannot even help themselves. The Law ceases to be their protector
because they do not know that they are entitled to the protection of
the law and they can avail of the legal service programmes for
putting an end to their exploitation and winning their rights. The
result is that poverty becomes with them a condition of total
helplessness. This miserable condition in which the poor find
themselves can be alleviated to some extent by creating legal
awareness amongst the poor. That is why it has always been
recognized as one of the principal items of the programme of the
legal aid movement in the country to promote legal literacy. It
would be in these circumstances made a mockery of legal aid if it
were to be left to a poor, ignorant and illiterate accused to ask for
free legal service, legal aid would become merely a paper promise
and it would fail of its purpose.

This part of the narration would be incomplete without referring to the other astute architect
of human rights jurisprudence. Justice Krishna Iyer in M.H. Hoskot v. State of
Maharashtra,131 declared that if a prisoner sentenced to imprisonment is virtually unable to
exercise his constitutional and statutory right of appeal inclusive of special leave to appeal to

131
AIR 1978 SC 1548.

133
the Supreme Court for want of legal assistance, there is implicit in the Court under Article
142 read with Articles 21 and 39A of the Constitution, power to assign counsel for such
imprisoned individual 'for doing complete justice.
The rule of law is a basic structure of Constitution of India. Every individual is
guaranteed with the right of life and personal liberty which is given to him under the
constitution. No one should be condemned unheard. In absence of legal aid, trial is vitiated.132
The present Legal Services Authorities Act though was legislated in the year 1987 but
came into force with effect in the year 1995. State level and district level authorities are
giving legal aid to the lakhs of poor people all over the country. However there is a second
aspect of the Act which mandate to constitute Lok Adalats for an out-of-court conciliation
and settlement of legal disputes.
Delhi High Court has given a landmark decision highlighting the significance of Lok
Adalat movement which has far reaching ramifications. In Abdul Hasan and National Legal
Services Authority v. Delhi Vidyut Board,133 the petitioner filed a writ petition before Delhi
High Court for restoration of electricity at his premises, which was disconnected by the Delhi
Vidyut Board (DVB) on account of non-payment of Bill. Court during hearing of the matter
found that the grievances of the citizens are not only confined to the DVB but also directed
against other state agencies like DDA, Municipal Corporation, MTNL, GIC and other bodies,
Court notices were directed to be issued to NALSA and Delhi State Legal Service Authority.
Justice Anil Dev Singh passed the order giving directions for setting up of permanent Lok
Adalats. The scholarly observations of Judge given in this case deserve special
commendations and are worthy of note. It will be profitable to reproduce the important text
and abstract from this judgment, which should be an eye opener. It should also steer the
conscience of all, as there is an increasing need to make Lok Adalat movement a permanent
feature:
Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for equal justice
and free legal aid. It is, therefore, clear that the State has been
ordained to secure a legal system, which promotes justice on the
basis of equal opportunity. The language of Article 39A is couched
in mandatory terms. This is made more than clear by the use of the
twice-occurring word "shall" in Article 39A. It is emphasized that

132
Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain, 1975 AIR 1590: (1975) 2 SCC 159.

133
AIR 1999 Del 88: 1999 (77) DLT 640: 1999(2) AD (Del) 105: 1999 (2) RCR (Civil) 291

134
 the legal system should be able to deliver justice expeditiously on
the basis of equal opportunity and provide free legal aid to secure
that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any
citizens by reasons of economic or other disabilities. It was in this
context that the Parliament enacted the Legal Services Authority
Act 1987.
The need of the hour is frantically beckoning for setting up
Lok Adalats on permanent and continuous basis. What we do today
will shape our tomorrow. Lok Adalat is between an ever burdened
court system crushing the choice under its own weight and
alternative dispute resolution machinery including an inexpensive
and quick dispensation of justice. The Lok Adalat and alternative
dispute resolution experiment must succeed otherwise the
consequence for an over burdened court system would be
disastrous. The system needs to inhale the life giving oxygen of
justice through the note.

If we closely scrutinize the contents of the decision of Delhi High Court, there has been an
alarming situation of docket-explosion and the ultimately remedy is the disposal of cases
through the mechanism of Lok Adalat.

6) Lok Adalat and its statutory recognition

The introduction of Lok Adalats added a new chapter to the justice dispensation system
of this country and succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to the litigants for
conciliatory settlement of their disputes and access to justice was made less formal and easy.
At the same time, the court exhorted the central and state governments to introduce a
comprehensive legal service programme in the country.
In 1987, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was enacted to give a statutory
base to legal aid programmes throughout the country in a uniform pattern. This Act was
finally enforced on 9 November, 1995 after certain amendments introduced therein by the
Amendment Act of 1994. Under the Legal Services Authorities Act, there is a Central
Authority. The Chief Justice of India is the Patron–in–chief of the Authority and a judge of
the Supreme Court of India is its executive chairman. Likewise, in every state of the country,

135
there is a Legal Services Authority with the Chief Justice of the state High Court as its
Patron–in–chief and a judge of the High Court as Executive Chairman. The Central Authority
as well as the State Authorities are all autonomous bodies and only judiciary manages the
same. Provisions under the Act deal with matters like legal aid, legal literacy and legal
awareness besides holding of Lok Adalats or "People’s Courts". These "courts" are normally
presided over by retired or sitting judicial officers and other persons such like social workers
etc. as per section 19 of the Act. Cases referred to the Lok Adalats either from the traditional
courts by agreement of the parties or directly under order of the presiding officer where he
deem it proper. The cases, which have so far been dealt with by these Lok Adalats are cases
involving matrimonial disputes, rent matters, motor accident claim cases, land acquisitions
matter, bank recovery cases, criminal compoundable cases etc. The advantage of Lok Adalats
is that lawyers need not be engaged and the cases are mostly decided on mutual agreement.
The award of the Lok Adalats has the force of decree of a court as per section 21 of the Act
because it brings the litigation to an end and no appeal against the award of Lok Adalats lies.
The party which has succeeded can also even get back the court fee amount it had paid
initially while going to the traditional court. No court fee is to be paid for getting the matter
decided from Lok Adalats and also strict rules of evidence do not apply. There is no burden of
payment of lawyer’s fees or any other expenses because the presiding officers assist both
sides to arrive at a settlement. Ever since the Act has come into force, millions of cases have
been disposed off by the lok adalats all over India. Access to justice in speedy, less expensive
and expeditious manner has achieved statutory recognition.
Lok Adalats experiment has met with an astounding success in our country and has
gone far ahead in providing speedy and inexpensive justice to the litigants. Besides providing
quick justice to the litigants, lok adalats are playing a pivotal role in reducing the burden of
our courts.
The setting up of permanent and continuous lok adalats in all the districts in the Country
will go a long way in making access to justice possible and providing to the litigants a forum
where they may sit across the table and sort out their legal disputes by way of conciliation in
the presence of lok adalat judge who would be guiding them on technical legal aspects of the
controversies. By an amendment introduced in the Act, once both the parties have gone to lok
adalat either directly or through a reference from the traditional court, a party may not be
allowed to opt out if it appears to the lok adalat judge that the effort to opt out is not bonafide
but with a view to prolong litigation.

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 Access to justice for a vast majority of people has thus been made possible by the
judiciary both through the institution of lok adalats and public interest litigation. PIL in India
is an Indian judicial innovation to translate into reality the constitutional promise of social
and economic transformation to usher in an egalitarian order and a welfare state by making
"access to justice" a reality for others who could not reach the courts due to various factors. It
is in a way the manifestation of the discomfort over the gap between promise and
performance.

The resolution of dispute forms a large part of the justice delivery system. India has a
long tradition of resolving disputes through various types of Alternative Dispute Resolution
methods viz., Nyaya Panchayat System. Institutions such as lok adalats have been given
statutory recognition by the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

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7) Practical difficulties being faced by Lok Adalats
As far as challenges and difficulties in conducting the lok adalats are concerned, it can
be broadly categorized into four groups:-

i) Reluctance of litigants;
ii) Reluctance of advocate;
iii) Reluctance of Judges; and
iv) Reluctance of the Government.

(i) Reluctance of litigants

Every litigant comes to court with the strong opinion that he has a strong case and the
lawyer also tells him that he has a good case. Once he starts with the presumption that he has
a strong case, he thinks that if he has to settle a case, he has to give up something which he is
entitled to. The basic problem for dispute to be settled in the lok adalats is that each litigant
feels that he is giving up something which he is entitled to. This is the main reason why lok
adalats are unable to settle cases easily in lok adalats other than motor accident claim cases.
In other cases, there is personal animosity whereas in motor accident claim cases there is no
personal animosity wherein primarily the principles of arithmetic work. Even, the insurance
companies in such claim cases are very professional and are very cooperative. If it is family
litigation, you will not have that kind of success as it is because of the personal animosity. It
is not just a question of just settlement between the parties but to teach the other party, a
lesson. Therefore, the first thing is that the litigant has a perception and thinks that he has a
good case which create hurdle in the success of lok adalats.
Litigant also has a misconception that extra costs and expenses shall be paid in the lok
adalats as court fee and lawyer’s fees. Unless this misconception is removed from his mind,
litigant cannot be pursued to approach out of court settlement through lok adalats means. A
motivation is required to be given to such litigants to get the matter settled at the initial stage
itself. The awarding of nominal costs by the courts at the end of vexatious case further
discourage the parties for early settlement.
(ii) Reluctance of advocates
All have always heard of judge-litigant ratio. However, no one heard of any lawyer-
litigant ratio which is equally important. Lawyers for their personal gain and to avoid loss of
their earnings does not allow their parties/litigants to get the matter settled as once the matte

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is settled, litigant would not come again and they shall be deprived of their bread and butter
earnings and source of livelihood. Such tendency of advocates is mostly seen in those areas
where litigation in the courts is comparatively less.

In Bangalore alone, there are 19 Law Colleges. The more number of lawyers does not
mean more settlement. More number of judges may be yes, but more number of lawyers
certainly is not an indication of faster settlement. It is in fact a situation, where more number
of lawyers are to be fed from same number of cases. Therefore, there is reluctance on the part
of the lawyers in settling the case. This aspect has somehow to be thought of and some
solution has to be found.

Secondly lawyers also feel that if they suggest settlement to their parties, then they
would either think that his lawyer is inefficient or have been bought over by the other party
especially when party had already made understand that he had very good case and likely to
be won. This is also one of the grounds for not coming forward for settlement through lok
adalats.

The third approach of lawyers that if the case is conducted fully, then they will get full
fee but if a matter is settled in the lok adalat they will not get any fee or full fee also point out
towards their reluctance and hampers the functioning of lok adalat. It becomes an impediment
in settlement.

To minimize this impediment and also to take into consideration the livelihood of the
lawyers, it is better that lok adalats should firstly deal with post-litigation Lok Adalats and
then go to pre-litigation cases otherwise, the lawyers will be up-in-arms against the process.

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(iii) Reluctance of Judges
The lawyers do not normally bother if a retired judge is holding lok adalat or is working
as conciliator but if a sitting judge holds lok adalat, one can find that there is a reasonable
response of the lawyer as he does not want to annoy him before him he may appear any time
in court. Indirect pressure of a sitting judge remains high on the minds of the parties and their
lawyers and they prefer to obey his advices also for getting the matter settled especially when
the case before lok adalats had come from his own court.
System of disposal quota or restriction of earning of minimum units make the judges of
lower court reluctant to refer the matter to lok adalats because normally judge prefer to get
the matured or ripe simple matters decided on merits and to earn big number of units instead
of asking parties to get it settled in lok adalats. If all easy cases are settled in the lok adalats,
then how do they achieve their quota and face the anger of superior court is another ground
which cause obstruction in big achievement in success story of lok adalats. Some of High
Courts like Delhi after realizing this difficulty of the judges have modified the units system
and started giving incentives to the presiding officers in units quota from whose court matter
is referred to lok adalats and is returned back as settled. This method certainly in future will
motivate the judges to send more and more cases to lok adalats.

(iv) Reluctance of the Government

As far as government officers are concerned, they have this “pass the buck” syndrome.
They do not want to take a decision themselves. They feel that if they take a decision, the
audit may object or their higher ups may object or public may feel that they have some
ulterior motives. Government officers in a litigation may be reluctant to pay one lakh of rupee
in a lok adalat under settlement will happily pay ten lakh rupees, if it is a judgment of the
court on merits. The reluctance to decide by government officers even in similar type of cases
out of which one or few have been decided on merits come in the way for the settlement of
disputes by alternative mechanisms. These are the broad difficulties as far as lok adalats are
concerned.
As far as difficulty in extending legal aid is concerned, main reason is “ignorance”. The
litigants particularly the persons of the backward classes are ignorant both of their rights and
of the availability of the legal aid. Unless one appraise them about their rights and availability
of the legal aid, it will not be possible to have success. Education is the only remedy for its
success. As far as the litigants are concerned, they may be the poorest litigant but want best of

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talents. He feels that he would sell his property but engage a good counsel. He always feels
that the legal aid counsel are novice or is a person who has accepted to do free service as he
has no work and therefore, he is not capable. This somehow is a wrong notion and somehow
is making the litigant not accepting the legal aid counsel.
Legal Services Authorities and Committees should educate the masses, educate the
persons who require legal aid and they must be shown that the persons who are legal aid
counsels are also competent. To achieve this target, senior advocates, committed good and
well known counsels must be joined in the panel of legal aid advocates.

8) Alternative Dispute Resolution methods to resolve disputes

(i) Alternate dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms

The need of the hour is to create an awareness of ADR Methods among the people and
to prepare a large pool of trained professionals in the field of ADR who will be able to
practice these ADR methods to resolve disputes.

In India, varied ADR mechanisms exist for resolving disputes outside the courts. The
choice of the ADR method largely depends on the nature of the dispute and relation of the
parties. The general ADR methods of resolving disputes are arbitration, conciliation,
mediation, negotiation, lok adalats etc. Thus, there are sufficient ADR mechanisms in India
and the only requirement is their application in true letter and spirit. Arbitration is the most
commonly used method in India for resolving and adjudicating various disputes but it is
expensive and lengthy technique.

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 Mounting arrears and delay in disposal of cases has put our justice delivery system
under severe strain and requires immediate attention. We need to take remedial measures to
avoid total collapse of the system. The need of the hour today, therefore, is the speedy
disposal of cases. How to curb the delays and clear the backlog? We have to find out effective
alternative methods of dispute resolution. We have to search for an alternative forum, which
may be less formal, less expensive, more effective and speedy.
The need for alternatives to the formal legal system has engaged the attention of the
legal fraternity, comprising judges, lawyers and law researchers for several decades now. This
has for long been seen as integral to the process of judicial reform and as signifying the
`access to justice’ approach.
There were over 1.32 crore (13.2 million) criminal cases and around 70 lakh (7 million)
civil cases. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs found that there were in
21 High Courts in the country, 35.4 lakh cases pending and out of 618 posts of High Court
judges, there were 156 vacancies as on January 1, 2000. The position in the subordinate
courts was even more alarming. There was a backlog of over 2 crore (20 million) cases for as
long as 25 to 30 years old. The total number of subordinate Judges in all the states and union
territories in the country, as in September, 1999 was 12,177. In the last 10 years the Supreme
Court, by improving its efficiency, has been able to reduce the number of pending cases from
1.05 lakh cases in 1991 to 20,000 cases. However, in the same period the number of pending
cases in the High Courts increased from 1.9 million to 3.4 million. In the subordinate courts
also, the number of cases pending had stagnated at around 20 million.
The Arbitration Act, 1940 was not meeting the requirements of either the international
or domestic standards of resolving disputes. Enormous delays and court intervention
frustrated the very purpose of arbitration as a means for expeditious resolution of disputes.
The Government of India thought it necessary to provide a new Forum and procedure for
resolving international and domestic disputes quickly. Thus, "the Arbitration and Conciliation
Act, 1996 came into being. The law relating to Arbitration and Conciliation is almost the
same as in the advanced countries. Conciliation has been given statutory recognition as a
means for settlement of the disputes in terms of this Act. In addition to this, the new Act also
guarantees independence and impartiality of the arbitrators irrespective of their nationality.
The new Act of 1996 brought in several changes to expedite the process of arbitration. This
legislation has developed confidence among foreign parties interested to invest in India or to
go for joint ventures, foreign investment, transfer of technology and foreign collaborations.
ADR is becoming increasingly popular in resolving conflicts involving commercial and
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labour disputes, divorce, motor vehicle accident claim cases, medical malpractices and other
issues that would otherwise likely end up in court. Due to its current popularity, some
commentators have noted that alternate dispute resolution may be understood to stand for
appropriate rather than alternative dispute resolution, because there is no longer anything
'alternative' about Alternate Dispute Resolution.

(ii) Important Characteristics of ADR

The most attractive characteristics of ADR are that it can be used at any point of time,
even when a case is pending before a court of law, it can be used to reduce contentious issues
between the parties and (except in the case of binding arbitration) it can be terminated at any
stage by any one of the disputing parties. Parties are free to decide how they wish to resolve
their dispute either before the dispute arises e.g., in a dispute resolution clause contained in
their commercial contract or after the dispute arises e.g., in a subsequent agreement to
arbitrate the dispute. Parties can agree on the law governing the contract, including how
conflicts of laws are to be resolved, the tribunal hearing the dispute, and whether the tribunal
will have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the dispute and where the tribunal is not a
traditional court, where the tribunal will sit and hear the dispute, the procedural rules which
the tribunal will apply, where the parties fail to agree on any of the above, the tribunal may
decide what is the proper law governing the dispute, the rules, it will use and even the extent
of its own jurisdiction.

(iii) Relevance of ADR in contemporary judicial system

Mounting arrears and delay in disposal of cases has put our justice delivery system
under severe strain and requires immediate attention. We need to take remedial measures to
avoid total collapse of the system. The need of the hour today, therefore, is the speedy
disposal of cases. Conciliation, mediation and arbitration are the virtue of human society and
it is for the legal service authorities to explore and harness these virtues. ADR is being
adopted by government and courts, as a promising way to reduce costs and delay in formal
justice system. The development of ADR in recent years has been extensive, the use of
alternatives connected to courts and tribunals is growing rapidly. These developments have
been fuelled by limited resources, increased workloads, the great length and costs of some
trials and the presence of an element in the list of cases which could better be resolved by
ADR.

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(iv) ADR systems for urban litigation
The Gram Nyayalayas as contemplated by the Law Commission will process 60 to 70
per cent of rural litigation leaving the regular courts in districts and sub-divisions to devote
their time to complex civil and criminal matters. With a participatory, flexible machinery
available at the village level where non-adversarial, settlement-oriented procedures are
employed, the rural people will have a fair, quick and inexpensive system of dispute
settlement. Only revision jurisdiction on civil matters and that also on questions of law may
be left to the district courts. Rent and eviction suits constitute a considerable chunk of
litigation in urban courts, and that they take on an average three or more years to get
adjudicated in the court at first instance, the Law Commission felt that an alternative method
for these disputes is imperative. The Law Commission examined several alternatives and
preferred to recommend the model of conciliation court along with a participatory model
where a professional judge interacts with two lay judges and evolves a reasonable solution.
There will not be any appeal against the decision and only a revision petition will be
permissible on questions of law to the district Court.

(v) What advantages does ADR have over the normal judicial process?
 Final, binding decisions.—while several ADR mechanisms can help parties reach an
amicable settlement, all of them depend ultimately, on the goodwill and mutual
collaboration of the parties. However, a final and enforceable decision may be
obtained by recourse to arbitration and Lok Adalats.
 Limited right of appeal.—Although arbitral awards may be subject to being
challenged, the grounds of challenge available against arbitral awards have been
limited by the new Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
 Speed and economy.—Arbitration and Lok Adalats awards are faster and less costly
than litigation. The restricted scope for challenge against arbitral and Lok Adalats
awards, as compared with court judgments, provides the edge. It also ensures that the
parties will not subsequently be tangled up in a protracted and expensive sequence of
appeals.
 Flexibility of procedure.—further, arbitration also offers the parties the freedom and
flexibility to decide on the number of hearings, selection of arbitrators, the venue of
arbitration, procedure that may be conducted within an agreed time frame

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 expeditiously and as economically as the circumstances allow. Similarly in the Lok
Adalats no strict rules of evidence are to be followed and award is passed on basis of
settlement of parties after they are indulged in conciliation proceedings informing
them about the benefits of settlements and some weak points of their defences etc.
 Confidentiality.—Unlike trials, arbitration and Lok Adalats hearings do not take place
in public and only the parties themselves receive copies of the awards.
 Neutrality.—As per the arbitration agreement signed by the parties, arbitration may
take place in any country, under any law in any language and with arbitrators of any
nationality. With this flexibility, it is generally possible to structure a neutral
procedure offering no unwarranted advantage to any party. Lok Adalats judges are
neutral persons and also normally have no concern or relations with the parties.
(vi) Need for ADR in Indian Judiciary
With the evolution of modern States and sophisticated legal mechanisms, the courts run
on very formal processes and are presided over by trained adjudicators entrusted with the
responsibilities of resolution of disputes on the part of the State. The seekers of justice
approach the courts of justice with pain and anguish in their hearts on having faced legal
problems and having suffered physically or psychologically. They do not take the law into
their own hands as they believe that they would get justice from the courts at the end and on
some day.
Naturally, this leads to a search for an alternative complementary and supplementary
mechanism to the process of the traditional civil court for inexpensive, expeditious and less
cumbersome and, also less stressful resolution of disputes. The Indian judiciary is held in very
high esteem in all the developing as well as the developed countries of the world.

9) Solution of drawbacks
The Legal Aid Act was enacted to constitute legal services authorities for providing free
and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities
for securing justice were not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities
and to organize lok adalats to ensure that the operation of the legal system promoted justice
on a basis of equal opportunity. The system of lok adalat, which is an innovative mechanism
for alternate dispute resolution, has proved effective for resolving disputes in a spirit of
conciliation outside the courts.
However, the major drawback in the existing scheme of organization of the lok adalats

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under Chapter VI of the said Act is that the system of lok adalats is mainly based on
compromise or settlement between the parties. If the parties do not arrive at any compromise
or settlement, the case is either returned to the court of law or the parties are advised to seek
remedy in a court of law. This causes unnecessary delay in the dispensation of justice. If lok
adalats are given power to decide the cases on merits in case parties fails to arrive at any
compromise or settlement, this problem can be tackled to a great extent. Further, the cases
which arise in relation to public utility services such as Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Limited, NDPL/BSES, Delhi Jal Board etc., need to be settled urgently so that people get
justice without delay even at pre-litigation stage and thus most of the petty cases which ought
not to go in the regular courts would be settled at the pre-litigation stage itself which would
result in reducing the workload of the regular courts to a great extent.
The amendments effected in the Legal Aid Act are designed to establish Permanent Lok
Adalats as an additional forum to the litigant persons for resolution of their disputes with
certain public utility services. Under the Act, it is optional to the litigant persons to approach
the Permanent Lok Adalats for settlement of their disputes with the public utility services.
The resolution of disputes through Permanent Lok Adalats will minimize the litigation
expenditure, save valuable time of the parties and their witnesses and also facilitate
inexpensive permanent remedy appropriately to the satisfaction of both the parties. It is in
this context that it will not be proper to say that the institution of Permanent Lok Adalats is
anti litigant.
The Supreme Court of India has also examined the validity of the amendment made in
the Legal Aid Act, 1987 in Writ Petition (Civil No. 543/2002) in the case of S. N. Pandey v.
Union of India, and vide its order of October 28, 2002 upheld the constitutional validity of
the amendments made during 2002 in the 1987 Act. The Supreme Court also held that, "the
constitution of the Permanent Lok Adalats mechanism contemplates the judicial officer or a
retired judicial officer being there along with other persons having adequate experience in the
public utility services. We do not find any constitutional infirmity in the said litigation. The
Act ensures that justice will be available to the litigant speedily and impartially. We do
emphasize that the persons who are appointed on the Permanent Lok Adalats should be
persons of integrity and adequate experience".
Under section 22D of the Legal Services Authorities (Amendment) Act, 2002, the
Permanent Lok Adalat while conducting conciliation proceedings or deciding disputes on
merit shall be guided by the principle of natural justice, objectivity, fair play, equity and other
principles of justice, and shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the
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Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The Legal Aid Act, 1987 (as amended by Act No. 59 of 1994) has provided a statutory
base to Lok Adalats by adding a separate Chapter VI therein. It has conferred wide powers on
lok adalat judges through section 22 of the Act in the matter of summoning and examining
witnesses on oath, discovery and production of documents, reception of evidence of
affidavits, requisitioning of public records or documents etc. The Awards passed by lok adalat
judges are now deemed to be decrees of a civil court and the court fee paid in such cases is
liable to be refunded in the manner provided under the Court Fees Act, 1870. These Awards
are final and binding on all the parties to the dispute and no appeal lies to any court against
these Awards.

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 CHAPTER 7

IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGAL AID SERVICES

(1) Legal aid movement and its statutory recognition:- As stated and discussed
in earlier chapters, Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that state shall ensure
that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and
shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other
way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason
of economic or other disability. Articles 14 and 22 (1) also make it obligatory for the state to
ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal
opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to ensure that this constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its
letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker
sections of the society.
Although, Article 39A was incorporated in the Constitution in the year 1976 and came
into operation i.e. 3 January, 1977 yet the movement of legal aid in the Republic of India had
started way back since the Constitution promised to secure to all its citizens justice-social,
economic and political which was w.e.f. 26 January, 1950. Since 1952, the government of
India also started addressing to the question of legal aid for the poor in various conferences of
Law Ministers and Law Commissions. In 1960, some guidelines were drawn by the
government for legal aid schemes. In different states, legal aid schemes were floated through
Legal Aid Boards, Societies and Law Departments. In 1980, a committee at the National level
was constituted to oversee and supervise legal aid programmes throughout the country under
the chairmanship of Justice P.N. Bhagwati, then a judge of the Supreme Court of India. This
Committee came to be known as CILAS (Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes)
and started monitoring legal aid activities throughout the country.
The introduction of Lok Adalats added a new chapter to the justice dispensation system
of this country and succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to the litigants for
conciliatory settlement of their disputes. In 1987, Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted
to give a statutory base to legal aid programmes throughout the country on a uniform pattern.
This Act was finally enforced on 9 November, 1995 after certain amendments were
introduced therein by the Amendment Act of 1994. Mr. Justice R.N. Mishra, the then Chief

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Justice of India played a key role in the enforcement of the Act.
The movement of legal aid in India got crystallized in the Legal Services Authorities
Act, 1987 which was an Act to constitute Legal Services Authorities to provide free and
competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities for
securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities and
to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operations of the legal system promotes justice on a
basis of equal opportunity.

2. Constitution and functions of Central Authority:- Section 3 of the said Act

talks about Constitution of a National Legal Services Authority and section 4 of the said Act
defines the functions of the Central Authority (NALSA) which are as follows:—

“The Central Authority shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:—
(a) lay down policies and principles for making legal services available under the
provisions of this Act;
(b) Frame the most effective and economical schemes for the purpose of making legal
services available under the provisions of this Act;
(c) utilise the funds at its disposal and make appropriate allocations of funds to the
State Authorities and District Authorities;

(d) Take necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to consumer
protection, environmental protection or any other matter of special concern to the
weaker sections of the society and for this purpose, give training to social workers in
legal skills;
(e) organise legal aid camps, especially in rural areas, slums or labour colonies with
the dual purpose of educating the weaker sections of the society as to their rights as
well as encouraging the settlement of disputes through Lok Adalats;
(f) Encourage the settlement of disputes by way of negotiations, arbitration and
conciliation;
(g) Undertake and promote research in the filed of legal services with special
reference to the need for such services among the poor;
(h) To do all things necessary for the purpose of ensuring commitment to the
fundamental duties of citizens under Part IVA of the Constitution;
(i) monitor and evaluate implementation of the legal aid programmes at periodic

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 intervals and provide for independent evaluation of programmes and schemes
implemented in whole or in part by funds provided under this Act;
(j) Provide grants-in-aid for specific schemes to various voluntary social service
institutions and the State and District Authorities, from out of the amounts placed at
its disposal for the implementation of legal services schemes under the provisions of
this Act;
(k) Develop, in consultation with the Bar Council of India, programmes for clinical
legal education and promote guidance and supervise the establishment and working of
legal services clinics in universities, law colleges and other institutions;
(l) take appropriate measures for spreading legal literacy and legal awareness amongst
the people and, in particular, to educate weaker sections of the society about the
rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by social welfare legislations and other
enactments as well as administrative programmes and measures;
(m) make special efforts to enlist the support of voluntary social welfare institutions
working at the grass-root level, particularly among the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes, women and rural and urban labour; and
(n) Coordinate and monitor the functioning of State Authorities, District Authorities,
Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Legal Services Committees,
Taluk Legal Services Committees and voluntary social service institutions and other
legal services organizations and given general directions for the proper
implementation of the Legal Services programmes.”

3. Nature of functions and duties performed by LSA

The nature of functions and duties performed by different Legal Services Authorities
are describe under the Legal Services Authorities Act as hereunder—
(i) Free Legal Services
i. Payment of court fee, process fees and all other charges payable or incurred in
connection with any legal proceedings;
ii. Providing Advocate in legal proceedings;
iii. Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other documents in
legal proceedings;
iv. Preparation of appeal, paper book including printing and translation of
documents in legal proceedings etc. etc.

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 v. Pre litigation settlement by mediation/conciliation etc.

(ii) Eligible persons for getting free legal services

i) Women and children
ii) Members of SC/ST
iii) Industrial Workmen
iv) Victims of trafficking in human beings or beggars
v) Victims of mass disaster, violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial
disaster etc.
vi) Disabled persons
vii) Persons in custody
viii) Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs.50,000/-.

(iii) Free Legal Services can be availed from

i) Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, 109, Lawyers Chambers, Supreme
Court of India, New Delhi for Supreme Court Cases.
ii) State Legal Services Authority constituted in all the States of the country
iii) High Court Legal Services Committee situated at High Court Complex in
every High Court.
iv) District Legal Services Authority situated in the District Courts Complex in
every District of the country.
v) Taluk legal services committees situated in sub-divisions and small towns.

4. Constitution and function of State Legal Services Authorities

Section 7 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 describes the functions of the state
authority as hereunder—

(1) It shall be the duty of the State Authority to given effect to the policy and directions
of the Central Authority.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the functions referred to in sub-section (1), the
State Authority shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:—
(a) Give legal service to persons who satisfy the criteria laid down under this Act;
(b) Conduct Lok Adalats, including Lok Adalats for High Court cases;

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 (c) Undertake preventive and strategic legal aid programmes; and
(d) Perform such other functions as the State Authority may, in consultation with the
Central Authority, fix by regulations.
The scheme of the Act formulates the constitution of State Legal Services Authorities in each
and every state to be constituted by the state government and further High Court Legal
Services Committee, District Legal Services Authority and Taluk Legal Services Committee
have to work under the supervision, guidance and control of the State legal Services
Authority and all State Legal Services Authorities have to work under the overall
superintendent, guidance and control of the National Legal Services Authority.

5. Forum for settlement of disputes/cases

Lok Adalat is a forum where the disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-
litigation stage are settled/compromised amicably. Lok Adalat has been given statutory status
under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. An award made by the Lok Adalat is deemed
to be decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal lies before
any court against it as per section 21 of the Act.

(i) Nature of cases to be referred to Lok Adalats

i) Any case pending before any court.
ii) Any dispute which has not been brought before any court and is likely to be
filed before any court:
Provided that any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under the
law shall not be referred to/settled in Lok Adalat.

(ii) How to get the case referred to the Lok Adalat for settlement
(a) Case pending before the courts:
i. If the parties agree to settle the dispute in Lok Adalat or
ii. One of the parties make an application to the court or
iii. The court is satisfied that the matter is an appropriate one for settlement in Lok
Adalat.
(b) Any dispute at pre-limitative stage

The State Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority as the case may be on
receipt of an application from any one of the parties to any pre-litigation stage matter refer

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such matter to the Lok Adalat for amicable settlement

CHAPTTER 8

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Conclusion

This Chapter dealt with evolution and growth of legal aid movement in India from Vedic
period to the present times. In fact, Provisions of Criminal Procedure Code and Civil
Procedure Code play a vital role in the practical applicability of legal aid in India till Legal
Services Authorities came into force in 1995. Because of its importance the next chapter
deals with Legal Aid under various statutes in India and their judicial interpretation with
regard to legal aid. In most of the instances courts have interpreted and stated that trial is
vitiated and conviction has to be set aside when there is no advocate for the accused i.e.
implying that appointment of legal aid advocate is mandatory. Legal aid is not a charity or
bounty, but is an obligation of the state and right of the citizens. The prime object of the state
should be ―equal justice for all‖. Thus, legal aid strives to ensure that the constitutional
pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the
downtrodden and weaker sections of the society. But in spite of the fact that free legal aid has
been held to be necessary adjunct of the rule of law, the legal aid movement has not achieved
its goal. There is a wide gap between the goals set and met. The major obstacle to the legal
aid movement in India is the lack of legal awareness. People are still not aware of their basic
rights due to which the legal aid movement has not achieved its goal yet. It is the absence of
legal awareness which leads to exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits of the poor

Suggestions

It is suggested that it is the need of the hour that the poor illiterate people should be imparted
with legal knowledge and should be educated on their basic rights which should be done from
the grass root level of the country. For that judiciary needs the support from state
administration to conduct legal literacy programme.
The judiciary should focus more on Legal Aid because it is essential in this present scenario
where gulf between haves and have-nots is increasing day by day. And elimination of social

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and structural discrimination against the poor will be achieved when free Legal Aid is used as
an important tool in bringing about distributive justice.
There are number of precedents as well as legislations to up hold the right to free legal aid
but they have just proven to be a myth for the masses due to their ineffective implementation.
Thus the need of the hour is that one should need to focus on effective and proper
implementation of the laws which are already in place instead of passing new legislations to
make legal aid in the country a reality instead of just a myth in the minds of the countrymen.
In providing Legal Aid, the Legal Aid institutions at all level should use proper ADR methods
so as to speed up the process of compromise between parties to the case and with that matter
will be settled without further appeal.
Free Legal Services Authorities must be provided with sufficient funds by the State because
no one should be deprived of professional advice and advice due to lack of funds.

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