JAMMU: District Legal Services Authority, Jammu today organized a function to mark the National Legal Services Day at Jammu District Court Complex.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman District Legal Services Authority, Jammu and Principal District and Session Judge Sanjay Gupta said that the programme was held to provide free legal aid to the people belonging to weaker sections of the society.

 A Lok Adalat was also organised on the occasion in which two benches were constituted and out of 106 cases, 41 cases were settled and a fine of Rs 36,695 was collected.

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jammu Sunit  Gupta informed that the Lok Adalats are organised on weekly and monthly basis to settle the cases pending in courts and pre-litigation cases.

National Legal Services Authority has started legal clinics which provide justice at doorsteps and appointed para-legal volunteers who settle cases in their areas and settle cases before coming to Adalats. They also take litigators to retainer lawyers who can advise them and provide free legal services to them, he added.

Additional Mobile Magistrate, Traffic, Jammu Naveen Jamwal, Third Additional Munsiff, Jammu Pooja Raina, Master Trainer in Legal Aid Services for Jammu and Kashmir, Jyoti Sharma, Sub-Registrar (Secretary) District Legal Services Authority, Jammu, Advocate Rameshwar Singh Jamwal, law students, lawyers and litigators were present during the function.

 At R. S. Pura  National Lok Adalat was  held at Munsiff JMIC Court Complex.

Parvaiz Iqbal, Chairman Tehsil Legal Services Committee, R. S. Pura and Slahuddin Ahmed, Additional Special Mobile Magistrate, R.S. Pura presided over the Bench.

During the course of deliberation, 32 cases pertaining to compoundable criminal/civil cases were listed before the Lok Adalat. Out of this, 19 were disposed off. Large number of litigants, prominent citizens, members of Bar Association, R. S. Pura and Sr. P. O from Prosecution Agency participated in the Lok Adalat.

Fine amounting to Rs. 10900 realized during the proceedings of the Lok Adalat.