NOIDA: Around 58,600 cases were taken up and Rs 34 crore collected as settlements during the year’s first National Lok Adalat in Gautam Budh Nagar on Saturday, officials said.
Lok Adalat is an alternative dispute redressal mechanism where cases pending before courts or at pre-litigation stage can be settled or reach a compromise. Lok Adalats are conducted by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and other legal services institutions.
The idea behind organising Lok Adalats is to reduce the burden on courts of law. The ruling of the Lok Adalats is binding on all its parties and no appeals can be made, but a party can go on to initiate legal proceedings before a court if unsatisfied with the result.
The cases were heard at district and tehsil level under the supervision of GB Nagar district judge Ashok Kumar on Saturday.
Of the 58,652 cases heard, 22,988 were resolved in the district court, 11,366 in revenue courts and 482 at pre-litigation stages. Several cases pending at department levels were also resolved and some 4,600 were taken up by virtual courts, the officials said on Sunday.
More than Rs 4 crore was collected as settlement in 47 cases at revenue courts, Rs 6.61 crore from 114 vehicle accident cases and Rs 5 lakh from 32 cases at family courts among others, said Jai Hind Kumar, secretary of the district legal services authority.
“The total settlement fees collected during the Adalat was Rs 34.38 crore,” he said.
Among the cases resolved were 27 involving the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), 16 of Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL), 13,795 of the transport department and 9,978 of e-challan.
During the Lok Adalat, six cases related to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Act were settled. In the hearing of six cases related to the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, fines of more than Rs 4.69 lakh were charged. The hearings were held in both online and physical modes.
