New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS): The 313 Gram Nyayalayas functioning across the country disposed of more than 2.99 lakh cases between December 2020 and October 2024, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 which was enacted to establish Gram Nyayalayas at the grass-root level aims to provide access to justice in rural areas ensuring opportunities to deliver justice at the doorstep.
As per the website of e-Committee, Supreme Court of India, there are 688 District Courts across the country, he said.
In reply to another question, Meghwal said that Lok Adalats are organized by Legal Services Institutions at such intervals as deemed fit in order to reduce the pendency of cases in the courts and to settle the disputes at pre-litigation stage.
Lok Adalats handle pending court cases as referred to it by the respective courts. Since Lok Adalats are not permanent in nature, all unsettled cases, are reverted to the respective courts and hence do not remain pending with Lok Adalats.
During the year 2024-25 (up to September 2024), 5,944 benches of State Lok Adalats were constituted which disposed of 10,11,912 cases. In addition, 98,776 cases were settled through 17,309 sittings of Permanent Lok Adalats (Public Utility Services) during the same period, the minister of state said.
Replying to a question on legal aid services in various states, he said that the Government has released Rs 200 crore to National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) during 2024-25 (up to October 2024) for implementing legal aid programmes through State Legal Services Authorities.
The legal services institutions have been set up from the Taluk level to the Supreme Court level for providing free legal aid to poor and weaker sections of the society, he said.
Till September 2024, 41,775 panel lawyers and 43,050 para-legal volunteers were available with legal services institutions to improve access to justice across the country, including rural areas.