The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Evening courts in Gujarat a success, says Ashok Bhan

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Sunday, Nov 04, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Evening courts in Gujarat a success, says Ashok Bhan

Staff Reporter

‘Many States have evinced interest in such courts’

BANGALORE: Supreme Court judge Ashok Bhan said on Saturday that the experiment of evening courts in Gujarat to deal with small and petty cases proved to be a success and several other States had evinced interest in the concept.

He was speaking at a function organised to inaugurate the “24-hour legal aid clinic and permanent Lok Adalat” by Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) on the Nyala Degula premises on H. Siddaiah Road.

He said the evening courts in Gujarat were functioning for two hours and they dealt with cases relating to public utilities, transport or police challans relating to traffic and parking violations.

Petty cases

He said such petty cases constituted nearly one-third of the total cases in the judiciary. These cases could be “weaned away” from regular courts by lok adalats and other dispute resolution measures such as mediation, arbitration and reconciliation. Unfortunately, the growing population led to a steep increase in the number of cases. This could be redressed only if lok adalats were made popular so that people would voluntarily opt for them instead of the courts.

He said apart from evening courts, the Supreme Court had introduced the system of mobile courts. In Haryana, such courts moved from one village to another disposing of petty cases. V. Gopala Gowda, Karnataka High Court judge, had also spoken of introducing such a system in the State.

Mr. Bhan said since India was a socialist democratic Republic, the Government could not spend all its revenue on the judiciary. It had to spend substantial money on social welfare measures and infrastructure projects.

He said that a legal aid clinic set up in Mysore several years ago was not popular then. However, things had changed and people now accepted it.

Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph said before Independence, India was a feudalistic society. After 1947, the country choose to become a socialistic Republic and judges and judicial officers should remember this change and work accordingly.

He said though the courts settled disputes, it would not lead to reconciliation of the parties. However, in mediation and lok adalats the endeavour was to bring about peace and amity among the parties apart from settling the dispute amicably.

Join hands

He urged High Court judges and judicial officers to join hands with the Legal Services Authority in popularising lok adalats and other systems of dispute resolution.

Mr. Gopala Gowda said permanent lok adalats were now functioning in Dharwad, Gulbarga, Mysore and Bangalore. K.L. Manjunath, High Court judge and Chairman of the High Court Legal Services Authority, spoke.

Chairman of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission S.R. Nayak, Chairman of the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal Srinivasa Reddy, Chairman of the Karnataka State Consumer Redressal Grievances Commission Chandrashekaraiah, and president of the Bangalore Advocates Association D.L. Jagadeesh were among those present.

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