Supreme Court Judge Justice Dipak Misra has appealed the judiciary fraternity to encourage and nurture the culture of settlement in the country.
Speaking at 3rd University lok Adalat organised today which is likely to grab limca Book of Records entry for number of cases to be addressed at one go, Misra said that the number of pendency of cases and nature of large chunk of them clearly indicated that numerous cases could easily be addressed through settlement.
“lok Adalat is a place where a common man is the protagonist and lawyer is only a facilitator. And we must keep in mind that whenever a case is addressed, what surfaces is not the victor or the looser, there emerges happiness, social stability and respect towards a system,” said Misra. He added that events like lok Adalat were need of the hour to strengthen social stability.
The 3rd University lok Adalat organised by Jharkhand State legal Services Authority (JHAlSA) for teaching and non-teaching employees of all the universities of the State is likely to get limca Book of Records entry for addressing as many as 5,537 cases at one go. A total of Rs. 113.58 crores were distributed among 4,910 beneficiaries in lok Adalat.
The Adalat addressed cases pending since way back 1984-85 ranging from non-payment of pension, arrear, non-compliance to previous Pay Commission provisions and compassionate jobs in all the universities. At least 10 people received compassionate job offer letters which were under consideration for the last three-four years, mostly of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU).
Governor and ex-Officio Chancellor of all the universities in the State Droupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Supreme Court of India Judge Justice R. Banumathi, Jharkhand High Court Acting Chief Justice and JHAlSA Patron-in-Chief Justice PK Mohanty, JHAlSA Executive Chairman and Jharkhand High Court Judge Justice DN Patel, Higher and Technical Education Minister Neera Yadav, a representative of the limca Book of Records, judges of Jharkhand High Court, Vice-Chancellors and other officials of universities, beneficiaries and hundreds of other people were present at the mega event on Saturday at the premise of Jharkhand High Court.
The Governor suggested that red-tapism shouldn’t be allowed to become a hurdle between common man and justice. “We have to make sure that the justice is delivered at the doorstep of the poor and underprivileged. Common people fear of visiting to three places in general- the police station, the hospitals and to the judiciary. We need to ask ourselves why it is so, and have to address the problem,” said Murmu. She also thanked and praised JHAlSA for taking this herculean task of addressing over 5,500 cases altogether.
CM Raghubar Das said that the government was doing whatever it could do to make justice reach to the last man of the society. “We have been working on three priorities. First, there was an era of policy paralysis in the State before we assumed office, hence we are framing clearer policies. Second, governance was missing miserably resulting in piling up cases in different courts. So, we have taken the route of good governance, which has started delivering. Third, we are simplifying the laws so that even the poorest of the poor turns stronger than the strongest,” said the CM.
Justice R. Banumathi who has also served as Chief Justice in Jharkhand in year 2013 praised the efforts of JHAlSA and NAlSA in the area of community based legal services. She also asked the government to address more and more cases at department level. “CM should direct (government) departments to address minor issues at department level as much as possible. This may result in significant fall of the number of cases which are filed in utter disappointment and ignorance from the department concerned”, said Banumathi.
Praising the events like lok Adalat, Neera Yadav advocated spreading awareness about it in the society. She also suggested universities to devote more time and efforts for betterment of the future of the nation. Yadav claimed that the government was more worried than any previous governments in terms of women and children’s education which resulted in dedicated women’s engineering college and other institutions in the State.