Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Lawyers decry powers of Lok Adalats

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Dec. 9. Several lawyers staged a demonstration at the City Civil Courts Complex on Tuesday in protest against what they termed the far-reaching powers given to the permanent Lok Adalats under an amendment to the Legal Services Authoritiy Act passed last year.

H.C. Shivaramu, State Bar Council chairman, and D.L. Jagadeesh, president of the Advocates' Association, Bangalore, later submitted a memorandum to the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, and the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, N.K. Jain.

The lawyers said permanent Lok Adalats had become "parallel courts" and the definition, "public utility services", would no longer be limited to Government agencies, but would extend to private services also. In respect of many such services, there were laws such as the Motor Vehicles Act, the Carriers Act, and the Railway Act, and the remedy could be found in civil courts.

"For other public utility services, there are already adjudicatory mechanisms and the creation of parallel agencies is neither desirable nor necessary,'' Mr. Shivaramu said. Creating a tribunal with non-official members, who would be mostly nominees of those in power and without a legal background, would be an "unhealthy trend", he added.

The Bar was also opposed to the section in the Act which said if one party approached the permanent Lok Adalat, the other party had no option but to participate in the litigation. This was opposed to the canons of justice, the lawyers said. "The right of judicial review or appeal is fundamental in all legal matters and making the decision of the permanent Lok Adalats final, without the right of appeal, will vest unrestricted power in the hands of a tribunal in which two non-officials can dominate... it will impair the administration of justice,'' they said.

The Bar also protested against a spate of legislation excluding the right of advocates to appear before a tribunal or authority. The Supreme Court had said that as part of a just procedure, appearance of a counsel was an invaluable right and this was being denied to the lawyers, they said. The lawyers opposed the Supreme Court imposing contempt proceedings on them, and said disciplinary action was the exclusive privilege of the Bar Council. They were against foreign lawyers being allowed to appear in Indian courts.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Lawyers decry powers of Lok Adalats
• A blast-off to new horizons of learning
• Son, grandson arrested in connection with man's murder
• Youth summit seeks poverty eradication
• Awards for Kannada singers
• Medical shops in city to remain open
• Three engineering students drowned in pond

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu