The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that a Permanent Lok Adalat constituted under Chapter VI –A of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 vide the Legal Services Authorities (Amendment Act, 2002), has the right to decide the dispute which could not be settled by a settlement agreement between the parties and the dispute does not relate to any offense. Such right has been vested in Permanent Lok Adalat with respect to the cases that arise in relation to Public Utility Services that need to be settled urgently so that people get justice without delay.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the husband of the claimant (Respondent no.1) obtained a personal accident insurance for the period from 31.03.2003 to 30.03.2018 from the writ petitioner no. 2 for a sum insured of Rs 3,00,000/-. Unfortunately, the husband of the claimant was gunned to death on 19.11.2003. However, the claimant informed the insurance company on 30.01.2004. Thereafter, the claimant was informed by the Senior Divisional Manager of the insurance company that the intimation of the death was given beyond time period therefore, the claim of the claimant respondent No. 1 is closed as “No Claim”. Aggrieved by this, the claimant filed the case before the Permanent Lok Adalat and the Permanent Lok Adalat allowed the claim. Therefore, the present Writ Petition is filed.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner contended that the Permanent Lok Adalat had acted beyond power, authority, and jurisdiction by drawing a judicial proceeding and thereby adjudicated respective rights and liabilities on merits without the written consent of the Petitioner Insurance Company. It was furthermore submitted that the Legal Services Authority Act of 1987 established the Permanent Lok Adalat, which failed to follow the procedure for conciliation and settlement as envisaged under provisions of Chapter VI under Section 22 C of the Act. The Permanent Lok Adalat does not have the power, authority, and jurisdiction to commence any judicial proceeding under the Act's scheme.
Observations of the Court
The Hon’ble Court observed that a Permanent Lok Adalat, established by the Legal Services Authorities (Amendment Act, 2002) pursuant to Chapter VI-A of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, is empowered to resolve disputes that cannot be resolved through a settlement agreement between the parties and that do not involve any offense. Permanent Lok Adalat has been granted the authority to handle cases pertaining to Public Utility Services, including transportation of people or goods by air, road, or water; hospital or dispensary services; insurance services, etc. These cases must be resolved quickly to ensure that people get justice without delay.
It was furthermore observed that the objective behind this is that most of the petty cases which ought not to go to the regular Courts would be settled at the pre-litigation stage itself which would result in reducing the workload of the regular Courts to a great extent.
The court noted that as per Section 22-C, any party to a dispute may, prior to the dispute being brought before any court, make an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat for the settlement of disputes. If the Permanent Lok Adalat determines that there are elements of a settlement that may be acceptable to the parties, it will create the terms of a potential settlement and present them to the parties for comment. If the parties are able to come to an agreement, the Permanent Lok Adalat will then pass an award in accordance with the terms of the settlement. If the parties to the disagreement are unable to come to a compromise, the Permanent Lok Adalat will resolve the matter on its merits if it has no connection to any offense.
The court furthermore noted that the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be guided by the principles of natural justice, objectivity, fair play equity, and other principles of natural justice in the exercise of its jurisdiction either in the process of conciliation and settlement or in deciding a dispute on merit under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
The court relied upon the judgments titled Interglobe Aviation limited vs. N. Satchidanand, Bar Council of India vs. Union of India, and Canara Bank vs. G.S. Jayarama.
Based on these considerations, the court was of the view that the Permanent Lok Adalat has rightly exercised its jurisdiction.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the Writ Petition.
Case title: The Chairman-cum-Managing Director V. Kisha Devi
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Navneet Kumar
Case no.: W.P. (C) No. 6066 of 2010
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Pratyush Kumar, Advocate
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