The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Madurai district has said that 17,906 cases were settled and Rs.38.5 crore was ordered as settlement to litigants at the lok adalat held as part of the national-level lok adalat at the Madurai district court complex on Saturday.
The authorities at the DLSA said that around Rs.5 crores as settlement was provided in 216 cases relating to the government acquisition of land from individuals for various projects. A DLSA official said that a majority of these 216 cases had been pending for more than five years. According to the DLSA, around Rs.7.5 crores was provided as settlement in 412 accident claim cases.
In various types of civil cases, including rent-related ones, bank recoveries and others, around Rs.11.62 crore was provided as settlement in 203 cases.
However, the majority of the 17,906 cases, nearly 86 per cent, 12,894 cases were under ‘others’ category and 2609 ‘traffic challan’ cases. While ‘traffic challan’ cases pertain to traffic violations, an official from the DLSA said that the ‘other’ category included cases pertaining to minor criminal offences and the ones related to issues in birth or death certificates.
The lok adalat in the Madurai district court complex on Saturday was monitored by the Principal District Judge C. Raghavan.