The 5th State Level Meet of DLSAs of Jharkhand was organized under the auspices of Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority on Sunday. The program was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by Hon’ble the Chief Guest Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.S. Ramchandra Rao, Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court-cum-Patron-in-Chief, JHALSA, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Executive Chairman, JHALSA, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary, Judge, Jharkhand High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Roshan, Judge, Jharkhand High Court at the auditorium of Nyaya Sadan, JHALSA.

On this occasion, Legal Aid Clinic at Amity Law School, Amity University and Institute of Legal Studies, Ranchi University were virtually inaugurated by Hon’ble the Chief Guest Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.S. Ramchandra Rao, Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court-cum-Patron-in-Chief, JHALSA.

The Chairmen and Secretaries of all the District Legal Services Authorities of Jharkhand and the LADCs, Mediators and PLVs participated in this program.

In the inaugural programme, the welcome-cum-introductory address was delivered by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Shri Sujit Narayan Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Executive Chairman, JHALSA. In his address,

He told the Principal District & Sessions Judges participating as Chairmen of District Legal Services Authorities, to impress upon the concerned courts that in the petty offences at the time of taking the person in custody not to pass remand order mechanically.

On this occasion, Hon’ble the Chief Guest Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.S. Ramchandra Rao, Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court-cum-Patron-in-Chief, JHALSA in his Inaugural and Keynote address said that he is happy to know that the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority under the able guidance of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Executive Chairman, JHALSA is doing very well in providing justice through legal aid to the needy people of Jharkhand.

that the DLSAs are the primary point of contact for delivery of legal services and are the cornerstone of providing access to justice at the grass root level. 

that Jharkhand had emerged as top performing State in the 4th National Lok Adalat of 2024 achieving the highest disposal rate of 99.49% .This manifest the consistent hard work being done by our workforce of legal services and is a testimony of the contributions made by them.

The Vote of Thanks were delivered by Kumari Ranjana Asthana, Member Secretary, JHALSA. She paid her gratitude to all the dignitaries and participants for attending the Meet.

The inaugural programme was followed by three technical sessions.

Session I dealt with

Providing quality Legal Aid through LADCS and Panel System (Analysis of current scenario & challenges) and Performance of DLSAs on ADR Mechanism

Session II dealt with

Legal Assistance to inmates of Prison & Activities in Prisons and Discussion on providing Legal assistance at Pre arrest, Arrest and Remand Stage

Session III dealt with

Accounts and Audit

The Technical Sessions were chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Executive Chairman, JHALSA, and co-chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Roshan, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Kumari Ranjana Asthana, Member Secretary, JHALSA.

Dr. Alok Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Sarla Birla University, Ranchi, I.G Prisons & team, DIG CID and Mr. Faizan Ahmad, IA & AS Retd. Sr. DAG, Ranchi, Jharkhand participated as Resource Persons.

The Concluding Remarks were given by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, Judge, Jharkhand High Court and Executive Chairman, JHALSA and Kumari Ranjana Asthana, Member Secretary, JHALSA.