A Legal Aid Clinic at the District Police Office is functioning from its canteen ever since the volunteers and advocates were asked to vacate a room that had been allotted to them a year ago.
According to sources in the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), the centre, which happens to be the first legal aid clinic to be set up in a police office in the State, has been functioning successfully for the past one year. The centre addressed family, property and other civil disputes through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as pre-litigation conciliation and mediation.
About a month back, the staff were asked to vacate the room allotted to them on the ground floor. “Despite several pleas, the officials failed to make alternative arrangements,” said S. Senthamarai, para-legal volunteer at the clinic. “It feels odd to sit at the canteen. Sometimes we are forced to leave as the place gets crowded,” she added.
The staff members, who were once busy accepting petitions from litigants from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, have been sitting idle without work for the past three months.
A senior official at the DLSA said that the alternative dispute redressal system helped reduce the burden on the courts and police department and was of much use to the people. “On an average, the centre received 50 petitions per month and of them 90 per cent were disposed of,” the official added.
When contacted, Vijayendra S. Bidari, Superintendent of Police, Madurai, told The Hindu that the legal aid had been shut down. But he refused to divulge the reasons.
“The department is conducting enquiries and taking direct action rather than referring the petitions to a third agency,” he added.
(EOM)
