Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Sunday urged the Supreme Court of India to double the income limit of those entitled to get free legal aid from the State from `1.5 lakh to `3 lakh so that a large number of people could avail themselves of this facility.
The Chief Minister while speaking at the annual function-2016 of the Students’ legal literacy Mission in Kurukshetra, also suggested that judgement should be delivered in Hindi or regional language or, at least, the verdict of the court should be made available in Hindi.
On this, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Judge, Supreme Court of India, who was the chief guest at the function, directed the Haryana State legal Services Authority (HSlSA) to send proposals in this regard.
The Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, and Judge, Justice Rajiv Narain Raina, were also present on the occasion.
The Chief Minister said that September 14 was celebrated as Hindi Diwas and people had made the demand that the judgement should be in Hindi or regional language and at least the verdict of the court should be made available in Hindi language.
Justice Khehar said that it was a challenge to make people legally literate and aware about their rights and duties. The challenge has been accepted and every citizen of the country would be made legally literate. The legal Services Authorities are providing free legal aid to children between 6 and 18 years of age, women, transgender, the disabled, specially challenged, labourers and victims of natural disasters, he added.
He said it was necessary to protect the rights of poor people of beautiful and incredible India. The National legal Services Authority has been making such people literate about their legal, economical, social, moral rights and duties, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, said that many people in society were not aware of their rights.
It is necessary to make people legally literate and aware about their economic, social and fundamental rights and HSlSA has been doing a commendable job in this direction. There are about 4,000 organisations in the state and about 50,000 people are engaged in these activities. Therefore, achieving this target would not be a big task, he added.