The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Media's role vital, says Chief Justice

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Media's role vital, says Chief Justice

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 20. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, B. Subhashan Reddy, yesterday said that without the media's support, legal aid services would not be effective. Unless the media cooperated in the transmission of the benefits of legal aid, legal literacy and Lok Adalats, legal services would not be fruitful.

He was inaugurating a seminar on the "Role of media in legal services" organised here by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority.

The origin of concept

Tracing the origin of the concept of legal aid, he said the Arbitration Act also proved that it would take more time than regular cases and cases had been pending even for 25 years. Hence, the need for an effective alternative dispute resolution mechanism was thought of by activist judges such as P.N. Bhagwati, V.R. Krishna Iyer and N. Krishnaswami Reddi. The legal services authority Act was enacted after the Constitution was amended to insert Article 39 A (Equal justice and free legal aid).

The Supreme Court formulated the free legal aid scheme in 1980, but it took eight years for issuing the notification.

Tamil Nadu was in the forefront of not only culture and education but also provision of legal aid. "We should be proud of this," he said.

Mr. Justice Reddy said Lok Adalats were cost-effective. He was for abolition of the court fee as a bona fide litigant should not be burdened with it. It was a Fundamental Right to have cases settled through Lok Adalats.

The Chief Justice said the media played an effective role in the transmission of the benefits of free legal aid and the advantages of having cases settled through Lok Adalats.

Tamil Nadu topped in disposal of cases.

As for Lok Adalats, the State was far ahead of others, he said. It was not possible for the judiciary alone to transmit the message on the benefits of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

It was here the media played a role and he complimented The Hindu , which was one of the very prominent print media. The print media proved powerful. Besides Lok Adalats, legal aid clinics and prison adalats for inmates were being held.

Justice P. Sathasivam, judge, Madras High Court, who is also the Chairman of the High Court Legal Services Committee, said that between January and October this year, 158 Lok Adalats were held.

Of the 1,366 cases referred by the High Court to the adalats, 1,011 cases were settled and Rs.15.87 crores was awarded.

A big advantage in the system was that the adalat's decision was final and there was no provision for appeal.

Legal literacy needed

Justice M. Karpagavinayagam, judge, Madras High Court, who is also the Executive Chairman of the Pondicherry State Legal Services Authority, said there was need for increased literacy and awareness of legal aid and services.

In his view, `media' meant being mature, educative, disciplined, informative and authenticative.

The Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu , N. Ram, paid tributes to the higher judiciary for launching legal aid services in the cause of providing justice, without expensive litigation.

Highlighting the increasing number of cases being referred to the legal services authority and resolved through Lok Adalats in the last four years, Mr. Ram said the media could help in spreading legal awareness and removing apprehensions in people's minds about approaching lok adalats, telling them about this alternative dispute resolving method which was faster and cheaper.

The media could also investigate why some of the banks were not coming forward to use the Lok Adalat system, he added, even while congratulating Chief Justice Subhashan Reddy on the steps that ensured that Tamil Nadu became a leader in free legal aid services.

The Chief News Editor of Sun TV, Maalan, wanted the legal fraternity to provide inputs in the form of case studies on how Lok Adalats could help people.

These could be `fictionalised' and used in television programmes to spread legal awareness.

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