Of the 1,35,901 cases waiting in Mysuru district courts, 24,702 have been picked out for settlement on July 11. That is the target of the National Lok Adalat, a one-day sitting the National Legal Services Authority has organised across the country.
The District Legal Services Authority in Mysuru, Deccan Herald reported, has finished its preparations. Litigants with cases pending before the district’s courts are being urged to come forward and settle by mutual compromise instead of waiting for a trial verdict.
What a settlement means
There is a catch for anyone who signs. A case resolved at a Lok Adalat is final and binding, and there is no provision for further appeal. In return, the court fees already paid in such a case are refunded as the law provides.
Which cases qualify
The list is wide. It takes in compoundable criminal cases and cheque bounce cases, along with bank recovery and money recovery suits. Motor vehicle accident compensation claims and labour disputes are eligible too. So are matrimonial and family matters, including domestic violence cases.
Land acquisition and revenue cases can also be brought, as can partition suits, suits for specific performance and birth or death registration cases.
The appeal to take part
Nagaraja Siddappa Ankasadoddi, the Senior Civil Judge and Member Secretary of the DLSA, has asked parties and their advocates to participate actively. His appeal also names banks, insurance companies and government departments, which are frequent parties in the recovery and compensation cases on the list, and he extended it to the general public as well. The aim, he said, is an amicable resolution of the disputes.
A separate sitting in August
A second, smaller exercise is already on the calendar. In August, a Special Lok Adalat is due to take up 43 cases from Dakshina Kannada that are pending in the Supreme Court and have been found eligible for it.
