Answer:

Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, it is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably. Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Lok Adalats serve very crucial functions in India due to many factors like pending cases, illiteracy, poverty, high vacancy in courts etc.

Several limitations of Lok Adalats include:

♤ LOK ADALATS ARE NOT APPOSITE FOR COMPLEX CASES: the biggest disadvantage with Lok Adalats is that repeated sittings at short intervals with the same judge are almost not possible which breaks the continuity of the deliberations.

♤ LACK OF CONFIDENTIALITY: Lok Adalat proceedings are held in the open court and any member of public may witness these proceedings. Thus, the element of confidentiality is also lacking.

This also impedes the process of exploration of various resolution options and ultimately the success rate in matters where parties desire confidentiality.

♤ AURA OF COURT PROCEEDINGS: Lok Adalats are fora where voluntary efforts intended to bring about settlement of disputes between the parties are made through conciliatory and persuasive efforts. However, they are conducted in regular courts only. Therefore some amount of formality still remains attached with Lok Adalats.

♤ DIMINISHED PARTY AUTONOMY: It cannot be said that the parties remain in absolute control of the proceedings in contradistinction to what happens in mediation.

♤ NEEDS CONSENT OF BOTH THE PARTIES: The most important factor to be considered while deciding the cases at the Lok Adalat is the consent of both the parties. It cannot be forced on any party that the matter has to be decided by the Lok Adalat.

At this juncture the endeavour should be to organize more and more Lok Adalats, ensure greater participation, reduce formalism, spare more time and personalized attention thereby ensuring quality justice through Lok Adalats.

Measures to improve functioning of Lok Adalats

♤ Establishing permanent and continuous Lok Adalats in all the Districts in the country for the disposal of pending matters as well as disputes at pre-litigative stage.

♤ Establishing separate Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalats for Government departments, PSUs etc. for disposal of pending cases.

♤ Accreditation of NGOs for Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Campaign

♤ Appointment of “Legal Aid Counsel” in all Courts of Magistrates in the country.

♤ Sensitization of Judicial officers in regard of legal Services Scheme.

♤ Legal literacy and legal aid programmes need to expand to take care of poor and ignorant by organizing awareness camps at grass-root level besides, the mass media like newspapers, television and radios can also be desirable for this purpose.

♤ To increase its utility, the concerned Legal services Authority or Committee should disseminate information to the public about the holding of various Lok Adalat by it and success achieved thereby in providing speedy, equitable and inexpensive justice.

♤ There is need for improvement in quality of legal aid provided by lawyers and advocates. The remunerations offered from legal services authorities to lawyers should be revised and thus encouraged to render effective legal assistance to needy persons.

The Lok Adalat Movement can be successful only if the people participate on voluntary basis in the functioning of Lok Adalat. This can be achieved by restraining themselves from invoking the jurisdiction of traditional Courts in trifle disputes.