NATIONAL LOK ADALAT

• Department of Consumer Affairs to refer pending consumer cases to National Lok Adalat for disposal through settlement
• National Lok Adalat will be held on 12th November 2022 across the country to despose off pending cases through settlement.
• Considering the benefits of the Lok Adalat system and mutual settlement between parties a large number of consumer cases are expected to be disposed of.
• Groundwork for this exercise has already been initiated and all the consumer commissions have been intimated to identify cases that have an element of settlement and prepare a list of pending cases that can be referred to Lok Adalat.
• Regular monitoring of the making of the list is been done by the department.
• To have maximum outreach and benefit consumers, Department is reaching out to consumers, companies, and organizations through SMS and emails.
• Department has the phone numbers and emails of 3 lakh parties whose cases are pending before the commissions.
• The Department has done a Video Conferencing with the Consumer Commissions which has more than 200 pending cases.
• With the help of technology, a separate link is being created and circulated amongst all stakeholders wherein 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 71379 pending cases, insurance with 168827, e-commerce with 1247, electricity with 33919, railways with 2316, 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.
• 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.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB