Thousands of worried faces took the benefit of National lok Adalat to settle their disputes on Saturday. However, for some the opportunity turned out to be another disappointment for the reasons of their own. Exhausted and resigned, such faces were wondering and simultaneously yearning for causes that landed them in the court.
Randhir Singh, a resident of Ratu, never knew that the loan he took for purchasing two cows would make his life miserable instead of making him happy. Singh had availed loan from a public sector bank in loan mela organised by Dairy Development Board in 2011.
The scheme felicitated funding of Rs 84,000 for two milch animals, a shelter for two and fodder for the animals purchased. Situation took an ugly turn for Singh and failed to repay the loan taken for one cow leading to suspension of loan for another. However, to the dismay of the poor man subsidy was not adjusted in the loan amount demanded by the concerned bank.
"We were told that the Government will provide 50 per cent subsidy in the scheme, however, the loan amount that is being demanded doesn't reflect adjustment of the subsidy," said Singh. In the notice that was sent to Singh, the concerned bank asked him to return Rs 52,863 that comprised Rs 46,237 towards principal and Rs 6,626 towards interest on the amount.
Interestingly, it was not Singh who had to face the consequences of institutional apathy and appear in the lok Adalat for disposal of cases. Disgruntled and exasperated, Ramjee Yadav was at loss of words to know that he had to appear in the lok Adalat for a case registered in 2007 for electricity theft. Although, the amount, Rs 18,289, slapped as fine by the electricity department was paid in 2008, Yadav was still called to settle the dispute at the lok Adalat camp.
"I was surprised to hear from my lawyer that I have to appear in the lok Adalat to pay additional Rs 4,000. I don't know why I have been called when the department itself is saying that no amount is left against my name to pay," added Yadav. Significantly, the Mega lok Adalat disposed of as many as 85,000 cases across Jharkhand and settled disputes worth around Rs 82 crore.
The cases which were disposed of in the camp are estimated to around eight times more than those settled in previous camps organised in the State. "We achieved unexpected success in the mega camp. It helped in the objective of pendency reduction," said Jharkhand State legal Services Authority Member Secretary SK Dubey.
The lok Adalats took place in the Supreme Court, 24 high courts and all the district courts of the country. The lok Adalat proved to be effective in disposing of cases at all places. In Palamau the National lok Adalat was inaugurated in civil court by Justice PP Bhatt of the Jharkhand High Court Ranchi where many cases were settled.
Notably, at least 20 cases were disposed of in Dhanbad and the Court awarded a total compensation of Rs 36.84 lakh through the adalat. The cases which were disposed included nine under Workmen Compensation Act (awarded 31.96 lakh), six under Industrial Disputes Act (2.76 lakh) and four under Minimum Wages Act (2.13 lakh), said RK Jumnani, Presiding Officer of labour Court Dhanbad.