LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES ACT-AN ANALYSIS

The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, was enacted to give a statutory base to legal aid
programmes throughout the country on a uniform pattern. The Act was brought into force
with effect from Ninth September one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, almost eight years
after its enactment, after certain amendments were introduced therein by the Amendment Act
of 1994. Hon. Mr. Justice R.N. Mishra (the then Chief Justice of India) played a key role in
the enforcement of the Act.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was constituted on 5th December, 1995. His
Lordship Hon. Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Judge, Supreme Court of India took over as the
Executive Chairman of it on 17th July, 1997. By February, 1998, the office of National Legal
Services Authority became properly functional for the first time.

Types of services under Legal Services Authority Act

The Act provides many types of legal services to the general public:

Free legal awareness

This Act is primarily intended for the public to make them aware of laws and schemes issued
by public authorities. The Legal Service Authority teaches some portions of the rules of law
to the individuals. Legal camps and legal aid centres are organized by authorities so that the
general public can seek advice from the legal aid centres located near their homes or places of
work. The legal guides and centres can help address the grievances of ordinary people as
well.

Free legal aid counsel

A person who wants to defend or file a case in a court of law but does not have the means to
hire an advocate can seek the assistance of a free legal aid attorney. The Act states that free
legal aid counsel is available, and the Council is responsible for assisting needy individuals to
obtain justice. By adopting and establishing this philosophy, the Indian Courts should be
freed from the burden of adjudicating the cases.

Objectives of Legal Services Authority Act

Under Article 39A of the Constitution of India, free legal aid and equal justice are provided
to all citizens by appropriate legislation, schemes or other means to ensure that no citizen is
denied access to justice on the basis of economic disadvantage or in any other way. The
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was enacted as a consequence of this constitutional
provision with the primary objective of providing free and competent legal services to the
weaker sections of society in the country.

Structural Organization under Legal Services Authority Act

As a result of the Legal Services Act, a National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was
established as the apex body for regulating the legal aid provisions. State Legal Services
Authority (SALSA) handles the implementation of NALSA’s powers at the state level, which
delegates further to a number of organizations.

NALSA

In response to Section 4 of the Act, NALSA has been established to provide free legal aid to
all citizens of the country. The body has been established by the government. It is headed by
the Chief Justice of India, patron-in-chief. The executive chairman of the organisation is a
retired or serving judge of the Supreme Court of India. The nominees are selected by the
president after consultation with the Chief Justice of India. An advisory committee referred to
as the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee is formed by the central authority. The main
responsibilities of NALSA are the following:

• It organises legal aid camps by giving more focus on slums, rural areas and labour
colonies. It helps in providing education to the people living in such areas regarding
their rights and necessities. They also set up Lok Adalat to settle disputes.
• It focuses on establishing legal service clinics in law colleges, universities etc.
• They settle disputes via arbitration, negotiation and conciliation.
• They provide grant aid to social service institutions that work at the grassroots level
for the welfare of socially marginalised communities.
• It also promotes research activities for improving legal services for the poor.

State Legal Services Authority

Each state has a legal service authority, which provides free legal advice to those who cannot
afford it. This is covered under Section 6 of the Act. They provide preventative and strategic
legal assistance programs. Lok Adalat sessions are also conducted by the authorities to assist
clients. Among their main duties is to implement the policies and schemes as directed by
NALSA. The respective High Court’s chief justices serve as patrons-in-chief. These bodies
are supervised by an executive chairman who is a retired or serving judge.
Lok Adalat under Legal Services Authority Act, 1987

Section 19 of the Act provides for the establishment of Lok Adalats. Legal service authorities
at all levels, including the central, state, and district levels, shall hold Lok Adalats. Lok
Adalats serve as an alternate dispute resolution system. Their purpose is to settle cases that
are pending or that have not been heard in the courts. It consists of judicial officers or an
authorized person under the jurisdiction of the state, central government, or local
government. Following the conciliation of disputes between the parties and the agreement of
the parties, the award is handed down by conciliators in accordance with Section 21 of the
Act. The award has the same legal effect as a court decision.

Scope of Lok Adalat

Unlike the Supreme Court, Lok Adalat is extremely broad to incorporate most of the cases
pending before it as well as new cases that will be filed in the near future to be settled. The
Lok Adalat does not have jurisdiction over cases relating to offences that cannot be
compounded under any law. The Lok Sabha does not refer such matters to committees
without giving the other party a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The Lok Adalat proceeds
to resolve any case referred to it and tries to negotiate a mutually acceptable outcome
between the parties involved with the case. Whenever a Lok Adalat decides a case before it, it
adopts the most extreme efforts for a trade-off or settlement.

In the case of P.T. Thomas v. Thomas Job (2005), the Apex Court specifically explained
what Lok Adalat is. According to the Court, Lok Adalat is an ancient form of adjudicating
system that once predominated in India, and its validity has not been questioned even today.
According to Gandhian principles, the term Lok Adalat means “People’s Court”. It is an
essential component of alternative dispute resolution. If the dispute is resolved at Lok Adala,
there is no court fee, and if it is already paid, the fee will be refunded.

Functions of Lok Adalat

The following are the functions of Lok Adalat:

• Lok Adalat members should be impartial and fair to the parties.

Lok Adalats can take the following forms:

National level Lok Adalat

The Lok Adalat held at the national level is held regularly throughout the country at the
Supreme Court level and taluk level, where thousands of cases are disposed of. Every month
a different topic is discussed in this Adalat.

Permanent Lok Adalat

It is organised under section 22B of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. It provides a
compulsory pre-litigation mechanism to settle disputes related to public utility services like
transport, telegraph, postal etc.

Mobile Lok Adalat

Mobile Lok Adalat is a method of settling disputes that travels from place to place. Over
15.14 lakh Lok Adalats have been held in the country as of 30th September 2015, and over
8.25 crore cases have been settled.

Mega Lok Adalat

The Mega Lok Adalat is an ad hoc body that is constituted at the state level on a single day in
all courts.

Daily Lok Adalat

On a daily basis, these Lok Adalats are held.

Continuous Lok Adalat

It is held continuously for a specific number of days.

Limitations of Legal Services Authority Act

The Government should not only establish the four-tiered Legal Services Authority but also
establish an independent body to oversee the workings of these tiers and actively work to
promote coordination between the Taluka, District, State, and National Legal Services
Authority.

Major limitations under Legal Services Authority Act are

The National Legal Services Authority is established under Section 3 of the Act. The
organization chart of the body reveals, however, that the members are all already overcharged
with the assigned duties of their primary work; therefore, a light modification of Section 3 is
needed. As the government builds up the National Legal Services Authority, it should
emphasize the importance of recruiting young legal professionals who do not hold other legal
positions so they can devote as much time to the purpose of the Act as possible.

Section 3-A

As set forth in Section 3-A of the Act, there is a requirement that the chairman of the
Supreme Court Legal Services Committee shall be a judge of the Supreme Court. Now, in
this case, the respective judge is already overburdened with his entrusted duties of day-to-day
litigation. As a result, there is the possibility that the office may not be able to achieve the
expected results in providing legal services in the future if such an overburdened person is
again given the functions of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee. Therefore, if
Section 3-A of the Act is to be implemented properly, then it will be essential to amend this
section.

Section 6

A State Legal Services Authority is established by Section 6 of the Act. Although the
organization of the body appears to be fairly straightforward at first glance, a closer look at it
reveals that each of the members is to a certain extent occupied with duties outside the body,
and therefore, a minor alteration of Section 6 is required.

Conclusion

As we all know that our Indian constitution put forward the idea of equality. The essence of
democracy is that every individual is equal in the eyes of law. Just like that every citizen
irrespective of economic status, caste, creed, gender, sex and other social conditions have the
right to receive equal access to law and equal opportunities to receive legal services. To
satisfy these necessities our government had set up the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.
It also ensures the promotion of justice based on equal opportunity.