A 21-year old arbitration appeal case, pending in the Court of Senior Civil Judge Neeraj Kumar Vishwakarma, was settled at the National lok Adalat organised here at the Ranchi Civil Court.
It was one of 2560 cases settled out of 3388 cases listed to be taken up by various benches of the lok Adalat.
“A 21-year old case was settled here today at the lok Adalat filed by one contractor Kewal Sharma in the year 1996 against Education Department bearing title suit number 32/96 where the arbitrator had awarded a sum of `70,000 to be paid by the opposite party along with a simple interest of `6 per cent per annum till realisation,” said the Civil Judge. But in the meantime, Sharma died and subsequently his wife Uma Devi and her two sons – Ravi Singh and Chandan Singh-were substituted in the execution case, he said.
“Ravi Singh later stated that due to poverty he could not pursue his case and approached the district legal services authority (DlSA) for a free legal aid and was subsequently provided an advocate. The court mediated between Ravi Singh and the department following which the Executive Engineer of Education Department submitted that he was ready to pay the due amount to the party,” the Judicial officer said. The Executive Engineer, however, said that the fund has been returned to the State Government hence he required some time to get it re-allotted for the purpose, he said.
The department, according to the Judicial officer, was willing to pay `1,84,577 up to the date of August 13, 2015 while Ravi Singh was willing to leave claim on the rest amount payable till date.
“On such settlement between the parties, the Court has disposed of the matter for the time being and gave the Executive Engineer some time to deposit the cheque in the court,” said the Senior Civil Judge.
According to an official release by DlSA Ranchi, a total of 2560 cases were disposed of out of the total of 3388 cases taken up by various courts during National lok Adalat and a payment of Rs 4, 17, 25, 611, was made.
In addition to that, all the 3767 pre litigated cases taken up during the National lok Adalat were disposed of paying a sum of Rs 4, 10, 91, 214 to the claimants.