Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) in collaboration with Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) organised India’s first Coal Lok Adalat in Ranchi on Tuesday and disbursed a sum of nearly Rs 368 crore among at least 10,000 beneficiaries whose cases were addressed.

The cases, sources said, were primarily related to land and revenue, pension and legal cells of the Public Service Undertaking (PSU). The one of a kind Lok Adalat was attended by Governor Droupadi Murmu, who commended CCL and JHALSA for taking the initiative. “It is a great initiative by CCL and JHALSA. I congratulate them for their proactive efforts in addressing cases related to CCL and BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited),” Murmu said.

Chief Justice of Jharkhand Dr. Ravi Ranjan and senior lawyers from the High Court attended the Lok Adalat. The idea behind the Lok Adalat was to address pending cases against CCL and BCCL and give due compensations and arrears to the beneficiaries, sources from CCL said.

“JHALSA’s efforts ensured that 5,500 pending cases related to universities in Jharkhand were addressed through Lok Adalat in 2016. This also found a mention in the Limca Book of Records. By addressing more than 9,500 cases this time, JHALSA has broken its own record and deserves to be congratulated,” said Murmu.

The success of Governance, she said, can be measured on the parameter of easy, fast and affordable justice. Lok Adalat, she added, fulfils all the three criteria. Talking about Constitution Day, the Governor said that the Constitution of India is one of the oldest written documents in the world and has been the soul of world’s largest democracy for 70 years.

The initiative, sources said, was taken on the directions of CCL’s CMD Gopal Singh, who pressed the officials concerned to speed up the process and work extra hours for making the initiative a success. Singh, who along with other senior CCL officials was present during the Lok Adalat, oversaw all the work done at the PSU in connection with the Lok Adalat,