18725 Cases settled in National Lok Adalat: Amardeep Singh Bains, CJM.

Amritsar 8 March ---

As per the directions given by National Legal Services Authority and Punjab State Legal Services Authority and under the able guidance and directions of Sh. Amarinder Singh Grewal, Learned District & Sessions Judge, Amritsar, National Lok Adalat was held today i.e. on 08.03.2025 at District Courts, Amritsar and Sub Divisional Courts in Ajnala and Baba Bakala Sahib. In this regard, Sh. Amardeep Singh Bains, Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-Secretary, DLSA, Amritsar has conveyed the message to the general public that cases of categories such as Criminal Compoundable, Bank Recovery, Cheque Bounce, Matrimonial Disputes, Electricity and Water bills, Telecom, MACT Matters, Labour Disputes, Traffic Challans etc. were to be taken up in this National Lok Adalat and in total 27 benches were constituted; 21 Benches at Amritsar District Courts, 1 Bench of Permanent Lok Adalat, 1 bench of Industrial Tribunal (Labour Court), Amritsar, 3 Benches at Ajnala, 1 Bench at Baba Bakala Sahib were setup for amicable settlement of disputes.

Apart from this, for taking up the matrimonial and families disputes; bench was also setup by the Counseling Cells by Crime against Women, Police Department, at their own level. Further, many other departments also took initiative and participated in the National Lok Adalat and settled cases/disputes pending under their preview.

During this National Lok Adalat 23907 cases were taken up and 18725 cases were settled and disposed of.

It was told by the District & Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman, District Legal Services Authority, Amritsar that the Lok Adalats are organized by Legal Services Authorities, as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mode wherein pre-litigative and pending cases in the courts would be disposed on the basis of amicable settlement without any expense on the part of litigants. In recovery cases court fees affixed by the parties on the plaint at the time of filling of suits are also ordered to be refunded. It is free of cost and expeditious method to bring litigating parties to a settlement of their disputes and saving them from prolong litigation under adversarial system of adjudication which is generally perceived to be time consuming, complex and costly. Lok Adalats are also instrumental in reducing the burden on arrears of the court disposal of long pending litigation between the parties.

Success Story of National Lok Adalat 08.03.2025:

In case titled as “Gulab Singh Vs. Rupinder Kaur” in case No. GW/84/2020 by the efforts made by the bench of National Lok Adalat presided over by Ms. Mandeep Kaur, Principal Judge, Family Court, Amritsar, the case was got settled amicably.

The said case was filed in the year 2020 for taking custody of grandson by his grandfather Sh. Gulab Singh; whose son has already given divorce to his wife who is respondent in this case. The said case was pending since long before the Court. Keeping in view the future of child, the Presiding officer alongwith Sh.Amardeep Singh Bains, Chief Judicial Magistrate, District Legal Services Authority, Amritsar has put sincere efforts and the respondent has recorded her statement that the minor child namely A will remain in her custody in future and she has undertaken to allow the minor child to meet with his grandfather and grandmother on every Sunday. Mother of the child also undertook to create Fixed Deposit Receipt of Rs.5 Lac in the name of minor and only minor will have the right for release of the FDR amount after attaining the age of majority. Mother also undertook to not to claim the share of the minor. At this, the prolonged dispute came to an end.

As we all know that the primary goal of the Lok Adalats is to foster amicable settlement through compromise, ultimately saving precious time, money and mitigating personal animosity between the disputing parties. In consonance with the said vision and mission, in two commercial matters plaintiffs have demanded the recovery of sum of Rs. 16 Lacs each. Today, Sh. Gagandeep Singh, Civil Judge (Jr. Divn.), Presiding officer of National Lok Adalat took initiative to finally settle the matters amongst the parties and several rounds of counseling were conducted at length, which lasted for around 2 hours to make both the parties to come on same page qua conditions of permanent settlement. Despite initial reluctance of the parties to come to a settlement, the parties finally settled their dispute for an amount of Rs. 9 Lac as full and final settlement for the recovery in both the matters.

Sh. Amarjeet Singh, Civil Judge (Jr. Divn.), Presiding Officer of National Lok Adalat bench has got effected compromise in two rent petitions titled as “Sandeep Kaur vs. Pankaj Kumar”. In these instant cases, petitioner/landlord demanded arrears of rent only. After the earnest efforts of Presiding Officer and Members of National Lok Adalat, the matter got amicably settled between the landlord and tenant. The tenant agreed to pay the rent and landlord to gracefully accept the due of arrears of rent.

Success in cheque bounce cases:

In a case titled as “M/s Kotak Mahindra Bank versus Santokh Singh”, the case pertaining to the year 2023, in which the complainant Bank filed a case in Cheque Bounce under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act of about Rs. 1 crore. However, in the efforts made by the court in the National Lok Adalat held on 08.03.2025, the matter was settled between the parties and statement of the counsel for the complainant bank in this regard has been recorded and hence the case was decided in National Lok Adalat.

In another case titled as “Ashwani Kumar versus Ess Kay Trading Company”, case pertaining to the year 2022 when the complaint was filed and cheque of Rs. 75,00,000/- was involved. Due to big amount of cheque, the cheque amount was not paid by the second party despite the case was pending since long. But Today, during the proceedings of National Lok Adalat with the sincere efforts made by Ms. Neelam, JMIC, Presiding Officer, National Lok Adalat, Amritsar the matter got settled.

In a case titled as “Parmod Kumar Versus Tarsem Singh” the case was of the year 2018, when the complaint was filed and cheque of Rs. 2 Lac was involved in the litigation. More than 7 years had elapsed but case could not be disposed of. However, given the continuous efforts made by the court at the time of holding Pre-Lok Adalat and also in National Lok Adalat held on 08.03.2025, second party made full payment to the complainant and case was disposed of after a long period about 7 years in the National Lok Adalat.

Success recorded by Sh. Gurdarshan Singh, Civil Judge (Junior Division), Presiding Officer, National Lok Adalat, Amritsar. The present case was instituted on 25.08.2017 for suit for possession of land measuring 13 Marlas as incorporated in the Jamabandi for the year 2011-12 and for mandatory injunction directing the defendants to demolish the wall constructed by them illegally on the land of the plaintiff. On various occasions case was taken up in the Pre-Lok Adalat again and again. Continuous efforts were being made to reconcile the matter. Today, with the efforts of the Bench, both the parties agreed and plaintiff suffered a statement regarding withdrawal of the present suit. Thus, long-prolonging dispute ended in National Lok Adalat.