Over 75 lakh pending and pre-litigation cases, many of them part of the huge backlog created by the pandemic, were settled across the country in the third National Lok Adalat.
In a move away from convention, the legal services authorities under Chief Justice of India-designate, Justice U.U. Lalit, who is the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), used technological platforms to conduct 'digital lok adalat' in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Of the more than 74 lakh disposed cases, 16.45 lakh disputes were pending ones and another 58.33 lakh were in pre-litigation stages.
"The total value of the settlement amount is approximately ₹ 5,039 crore," NALSA said in a statement on Saturday.
In an interaction with legal services authorities' officials, Justice Lalit said that lok adalats have "not only become an efficient substitute to seek redressal, but significantly help in reducing the burden of the courts pertaining to backlog and pendency of cases".
"Seeking justice is no longer a luxury, it is one‘s right," he said.
Earlier in the second National Lok Adalat, a total of 95,78,209 cases were settled with a total settlement amount of ₹ 9,422 crore.
NALSA, in its statement, said it was "heartening to note that the three Lok Adalat conducted this year have surpassed the last year’s record as till now the figures of record disposable cases have already touched more than 2.2 crore".
