A just outcome of a legal process is far more important than expeditious disposal of cases in Indian judicial system. In the context of National Lok Adalats, Explain. (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· Lok Adalats were established to make justice accessible and affordable to all. It was a forum to address the problems of crowded case dockets outside the formal adjudicatory system.
· National Lok Adalats (NLAs) organised under the aegis of NALSA settle a huge number of cases across the country in a single day.
· Lok Adalats offer parties speed of settlement, as cases are disposed of in a single day, there is no strict application of procedural laws such as the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
· To overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, e-Lok Adalats were organised at both national and State level.
· However, besides efficiency and speed, Lok Adalats both online and offline should focus on the quality of justice delivered.
· The Supreme Court, in State of Punjab vs Jalour Singh (2008), held that a Lok Adalat is purely conciliatory and it has no adjudicatory or judicial function.
· As compromise is its central idea, there is a concern, and perhaps a valid one, that in the endeavour for speedy disposal of cases, it undermines the idea of justice.
· In a majority of cases, litigants are pitted against entities with deep pockets, such as insurance companies, banks, electricity boards, among others.
· In many cases, compromises are imposed on the poor who often have no choice but to accept them.
· In most cases, such litigants have to accept discounted future values of their claims instead of their just entitlements, or small compensations, just to bring a long-pending legal process to an end.
