Kolkata, July 14: West Bengal achieved over 50 per cent success in settlement of litigations through Lok Adalats with 4,897 of the total 9,044 disputes settled so far, state's law minister Nisith Adhikari said today. The remaining disputes could not be settled through Lok Adalat mainly because of non-cooperation from either of the parties involved in the disputes of various nature ranging from matrimonial to insurance matters, the minister told the state assembly.

Dwelling on the performance of the Lok Adalats in West Bengal, the minister informed the assembly that the state government was encouraging settlement of litigations through Lok Adalats to benefit people and reduce huge backlog of pending cases in different courts. Replying to a query of the ruling CPI(M) member Abu Ayesh Mondal during question hour, Adhikari said such settlements were wiser than engaging into long-drawn legal battle.

Adhikari said that though the Centre initiated a move to set up permanent lok adalats in the country, modalities of this concept were yet to be finalised.

Bureau Report