Nearly 75,000 cases, including 37,177 pre-litigation, have been settled in Mysuru district through the Lok Adalat, and the final figures are expected to go up once the cases resolved at the taluk levels are updated.
This was stated by the Principal District and Sessions Judge M.L. Raghunath here on Saturday. He told media persons that all the judicial officers and members of the legal community were working hard since 3 months and this has brought satisfaction in terms of the cases settled through mutual agreement among the litigants.
He said 141 matrimonial disputes have been taken up out of which 115 have been resolved and both the estranged partners have agreed to be reunited. A large number of traffic offence cases too have been settled and fines due to the government to the tune of ₹47.86 lakh has been paid by the offenders in the last 3 days alone. In all, 6,888 cases have been settled pertaining to various traffic offences, said Mr. Raghunath.
In reply to a question on how multiple offences are bundled resulting in steep fine, Mr. Raghunath said it was a decision to be taken at the government level. The local police or the courts do not have any discretionary powers to reduce it. In case the government decides to so the courts could perhaps think of reducing the fine depending on the quantum slapped on the offender. He said there were many advocates who have received cumulative slips to the tune of ₹16,000.
There was also the rare case of differences between a woman and her father which came before the Lok Adalat. The girl’s father is in the defence services and after the death of her mother she was left in charge of her grandmother and the girl approached the court on the grounds that her father was not taking proper care of her. The court had a video conference with the parties concerned and resolved the issue, he added.
According to the District Legal Services Authority, nearly 55,000 cases were resolved in the last Lok Adalat in March while about 45,000 cases had been settled in an earlier drive.
