The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) will soon launch a web application, in coordination with the National Informatics Centre, to ensure that no prisoner in the country remains unrepresented in courts in the course of his or her trial or appeal.
Supreme Court Judge Dipak Misra, who is also the NALSA Executive Chairman, on Friday said that in the software, the State Legal Services Authorities (SLSA) and the District Legal Services Authorities would feed data for each individual prison inmate within their jurisdiction.
The digitised database, launched by Justice Misra, would also have details of cases pending against the inmates, lawyers representing them, if any, case stage, next date of hearing and other related information collated from the jail authorities.
ADVERTISEMENT
It would also help in extending legal aid to under-trials who are entitled to bail under Section 436A of the Criminal Procedure Code, having been detained in prison for at least half of the maximum term prescribed for the alleged offence, other than those punishable with death penalty.
Justice Misra said the web application would make the legal services system more transparent and efficient, owing to real-time monitoring.
Expanding its operations, the NALSA has set up 30 Legal Assistance Establishment centres across the country, to extend help to legal aid seekers through empanelled lawyers and para-legal volunteers. A brainchild of Justice Misra, 13 of these centres are already functional and others are expected to become operational by July 15.
ADVERTISEMENT
Justice Misra has also approved increasing the number of volunteers from 54,000 to about 80,000 across the country.
While the information on legal aid seekers and beneficiaries will be available at one centralised point — SLSA office, video-conferencing facility has also been made available at these offices for the under-trials to interact with counsels or legal services officials for redress of grievances.
Till June 20, the Delhi State Legal Services Authority had received requests for assistance from 530 persons, of whom 488 came to seek legal aid, general information and nine came to know about their cases.
Similarly, the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority — wherein ‘Nyaya Sampark’ was inaugurated by Justice Misra on May 27, — received requests from about 126 people in a fortnight. Of these, 52 wanted to know the case status, 37 visited for legal advice, 15 for obtaining copy of judgment and 22 persons came for general enquiry relating to the filing of cases.