Sharp rise in cases settled at Lok Adalat

Mumbai: Maharashtra is among the top three states in the number of cases settled out of court at this year’s second national ‘Lok Adalat’, marking a sharp increase, an official says.

The event held on Sunday helped resolve 2.92 lakh cases involving Rs 558 crore in camps conducted at 33 district headquarters, 305 talukas and three high courts. The last Lok Adalat saw the settlement of 1.5 lakh cases.

The national Lok Adalats are held under the mandate of the National Legal Services Authority in all states once in two months to help settle out of court minor disputes like those related to property tax, family issues, dud cheque cases and recovery suits of banks and land acquisition.  Satara, Raigad, Nashik, Jalgaon and Pune districts saw the settlement of the most number of cases.

The Lok Adalat settled more than 7,000 cases in Mumbai city while the suburban Mumbai remained lukewarm with only 51 disputes settled.

“The number of disputes settled is increasing with every Lok Adalat. We settled around 1.5 lakh cases involving Rs 434 crore in February event,” said Shrikant Kulkarni, the secretary of MSLSA.

“We usually conduct meeting ahead of Lok Adalat meetings with interested parties and this procedure begins one and half months before the event day,” Mr Kulkarni said.