The 38th national games had a unique but conspicuous stall amongst other displays. This stall had nothing to do with the players or foods, culture or tourism but to make people aware about the roles, objectives and various benefits they can draw from the services rendered by the Legal Services Authorities namely National Legal Services Authority, New Delhi, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority, High Court Legal Services Committee and District Legal Services Authority Almora. Over 4300 persons had the opportunity to know about the benefits they can draw from such authorities, in case of need and especially about free legal aid which is provided at different levels to make justice accessible to all citizens even at the grassroot level.
Many times people do not know that they can benefit from District Legal Services Authority in case of victim compensation matters also. The District Legal Services Authority holds Lok Adalats from time to time and helps in the disposal of pending cases in criminal courts which are compoundable in nature and other matters on the basis of amicable settlement of parties where law permits.
Shachi Sharma, Civil Judge(Senior Division)/ Secretary, District Legal Services Almora said, “We keep holding awareness campaigns regularly even in the remotest far flung areas of the District to sensitize masses regarding their rights, NALSA helpline number- 15100, various schemes of NALSA and Lok Adalats etc. for people’s benefits. …Uttarakhand witnessed the highest improvement in the pending cases disposal rate oflate in National Lok Adalat which was held on 14.12.2024. We try our level best to reach out to masses wherever there is footfall. National games had a huge footfall and the craze was palpable amongst all age groups so a stall was set up here in Almora as well by us which was a grand success.” To settle the cases, National Lok Adalats continue to play a major role and this must reach every affected person, shared Shachi with a beaming smile and appealed to the litigants and other citizens to derive maximum benefit from upcoming National Lok adalat on 08.03.25.
Notably Uttarakhand emerged as the top performing state in the category of Pending cases in the 4th National Lok Adalat dated 14 December 2024 achieving the highest disposal rate of 99.73%.