Lok Adalats held by the Delhi State Legal Service Authority (DSLSA) on July 14 cleared 10,309 cases pending at various district courts of Delhi.
This is only a fraction of pending cases, with over 6.8 lakh pending across district courts in the Capital, but a significant step towards clearing the massive backlog.
The National Judicial Data Grid, a live portal for accessing data on case disposal at various district courts across the country, revealed that 17,347 cases were disposed of last month by all district courts in Delhi. Of those, 4,177 were civil and 13,170 were criminal cases.
Lok Adalats, a lesser-known alternate dispute resolution mechanism, held on the second Saturday of every month has been making periodic inroads to bring down pendency in court cases.
The July 14 Lok Adalats were organised under the guidance of its patron-in-chief Delhi High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal. The Lok Adalats were organised in all 11 districts of Delhi inside the court complexes and were presided over by judges or retired judges of district courts along with associate members.
The Lok Adalats were held for all civil, criminal and Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) matters which have an element of settlement in them. Both pre-litigative matters and matters pending in courts were taken up in the Lok Adalats.
₹37.20-crore settlement
In July 14’s Lok Adalats, cases disposed of pertained to different jurisdiction of pre-litigative and pending nature, in which the settlement amount was around ₹37.20 crore, a DSLSA press release said.
The DSLSA also said that 236 cases of MACT were settled, for which Lok Adalat Benches of all districts of Delhi were constituted at Patiala House Courts, here leading to the settlement of ₹18.77 crore. Lok Adalats were also organised at the Delhi High Court, in which 20 cases were disposed of leading to settlement amount of ₹1.27 crore.
