National Lok Adalat across the country on November 12 to settle pending cases

Image Credit: ANI; Representational purpose only

New Delhi: The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution announced on Thursday that a National Lok Adalat will be held across the country on November 12, 2022, to settle pending cases. A large number of consumer cases are expected to be resolved due to the benefits of the Lok Adalat system and mutual settlement between parties, according to the press release. The groundwork for this exercise has already begun, and all consumer commissions have been notified to identify cases with a settlement element and prepare a list of pending cases that can be referred to Lok Adalat. According to the statement, the department monitors the creation of the list on a regular basis. To maximise outreach and benefit consumers, the Department is communicating with consumers, businesses, and organisations via SMS and email. The Department has the phone numbers and email addresses of three lakh people whose cases are being heard by the commissions.

The Department participated in a video conference with the Consumer Commission, which has over 200 pending cases. Using technology, a separate link is being created and distributed to all stakeholders through which one can enter their pending case number and commission where the case is pending and easily refer the matter to Lok Adalat.

The link shall be circulated through email and SMS. Through data analytics, sector-wise distribution of pendency has been identified such as banking with a total number of 71,379 pending cases, insurance with 1,68,827, e-commerce with 1,247, electricity with 33,919, railways with 2,316, etc., and efforts are being made towards the settlement of such consumer cases on priority.

Department of Consumer Affairs is constantly monitoring the disposal of cases in Consumer Commissions and is in the process of collaborating with the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) for referring the inclusion of pending consumer cases to be disposed of through the upcoming National Lok Adalat, where both parties mutually agree on a settlement. Communication in this regard has already been made to NALSA.

For further information and assistance to get their pending case referred to Lok Adalat, they can register their cases for the reference to Lok Adalat through the link http://cms.nic.in/ncdrcusersWeb/lad.do?method=lalp or can call on 1915, National Consumer Helpline who will assist them in the process. 

Also, the Consumer Commission can upload the updated list of referred cases on the portal through the above-mentioned link.National Lok Adalats are held at regular intervals where on a single day Lok Adalats are held throughout the country, in all the courts right from the Supreme Court to the District level wherein cases are disposed of in huge numbers.The mission of the Department of Consumer Affairs is to strengthen consumer protection and safety through progressive legislation, empower consumers through awareness and education, and provide access to fair and efficient grievance redressal mechanisms. 

National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) along with other Legal Service institutions conducts Lok Adalats. It is one of the alternate dispute redressal mechanisms, it`s a forum where disputes/cases pending in the courts/commissions are settled/ compromised amicably. There are about 6, 07,996 consumer cases pending in the country. In NCDRC there are about 22,250 numbers of cases pending. The major states like Uttar Pradesh with 28,318 cases pending, Maharashtra with 18,093 pending cases, Delhi with 15,450 pending cases, Madhya Pradesh with 10,319, and, Karnataka with 9,615 pending cases are some of the states with the highest number of pendency.

(Inputs from ANI)