To connect with the people of the States of Punjab, Chandigarh UT and Haryana and to create awareness about the availability of legal services for the poor and marginalised segments, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice SJ Vazifdar, patron-in-chief of the State legal Services Authority, flagged off ‘The Walk’, from the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.
Justice AK Mittal, Justice Surya Kant and Justice TPS Mann, Executive Chairman, Punjab State legal Services Authority, were also present.
The Judges of the High Court, judicial officers from Mohali, Panchkula and Chandigarh, Advocates, students and para legal volunteers participated in the walk from High Court building to Sukhna lake.
Students of Chandigarh University Gharuan, Rayat & Bahra University Kharar, Universal law College, lalru and other senior officers of SAS Nagar also participated in the walk.
The judicial officers and other participates were holding placards giving the message of free legal services being provided by the authorities and the contact details for contacting the legal services instructions.
November 9 is observed and celebrated as the “legal Services Day” in the country. The walk was a part of nationwide campaign “Connecting to Serve”, started by National legal Services Authority, New Delhi from November 9 to 18 with the objectives to make weaker and marginalized sections of society aware about the existence of legal Services Institutions and availability of free legal services; To make them aware about legal Services Clinics, Front offices and legal aid help line numbers; and to identify people who are in need of legal assistance but have not taken recourse to justice delivery system on account of economic or other disability.
To reach the people in need and to uplift the marginalized of the society is the motto of Punjab State legal Services Authority. To actually outreach of the down trodden areas and marginalized segment of society, in this campaign, the Para legal Volunteer, students, Panel lawyers are also conducting door-to-door campaign giving information on legal services and enquiring about the grievance faced by them, if any. The same would be ultimately redressed by holding the camps during this campaign.