There are not many persons coming forward to use facility under Legal Services Authorities Act that provides for settlement of cases at the pre-litigation stage, said Principal District and Session Judge Chaudapurkar Arun.
Speaking to reporters after flagging off Legal Awareness Chariot on Monday, Mr. Arun said there were reservations among people regarding the pre-litigation settlement. He said in his service as a Judge, so far he had only seen banks using the pre-litigation settlement of disputes. “As many as 90 per cent of cases are from banks,” he said.
Mr. Arun said only 29 of the 5785 cases settled last year were through pre-litigation in Dakshina Kannada. Till May this year there had not been any pre-litigation settlements. “We are speaking to people about pre-litigation process during our legal awareness programmes, held throughout the year,” Mr. Arun said.
According to Dakshina Kannada District Legal Services Authority, the 5785 cases were settled in as many as 633 sittings of Lok Adalat held last year. Total compensation of Rs. 94.19 lakh was given in Motor Vehicle Accident claims and Land Acquisition Compensation cases. As many as 3126 cases were settled in 282 Lok Adalat sittings till May. Compensation of Rs. 46.98 lakh was given away in the same period.
Mr. Arun flagged off the Legal Chariot – a bus of the Karnataka Legal Services Authority – which will be moving to different parts of Mangalore in the next three days. The bus arrived in Mangalore on Monday after stoppages at Sullia, Belthangady, and Puttur.
