FIRST NATIONAL LOK ADALAT OF THE YEAR CONCLUDED

FIRST NATIONAL LOK ADALAT OF THE YEAR CONCLUDED

15-MARCH-ENG 13

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-----------------------------The first National Lok Adalat (People's Court) of the year was organized within the premises of the Civil Court, Ara, under the aegis of the District Legal Services Authority, Bhojpur (Ara). This National Lok Adalat was inaugurated within the Civil Court complex by the Chief Guest, Justice Harish Kumar of the Patna High Court—who also serves as the Inspecting Judge for the Bhojpur Judicial District—through the ceremonial lighting of a lamp. In his address, the Inspecting Judge stated that access to justice for the people is a fundamental tenet of the Indian Constitution, and the Lok Adalat plays a pivotal role in ensuring this access. Present on this occasion were Principal District and Sessions Judge Purushottam Mishra; Principal Judge of the Family Court, Ashutosh Kumar; the District Magistrate; the Superintendent of Police; President of the District Advocates' Association, Rakesh Kumar Mishra; Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, Gautam Kumar; Secretary of the District Advocates' Association, Manmohan Ojha; Prosecution Officer Manik Kumar Singh; District Government Pleader Ramdhani Bharti; Public Prosecutor Rana Pratap Singh; District Lead Manager Neeraj Kumar; senior officials from the South Bihar Gramin Bank; officials from the State Bank of India; all judicial officers; as well as advocates and litigants.

The Principal District and Sessions Judge informed that a total of 17 benches were constituted for this National Lok Adalat. A total of 2,925 cases were disposed of during the event; specifically, 416 bank-related cases were resolved, 1,047 compoundable cases pending in the courts were settled, and three cases involving BSNL were disposed of. Furthermore, the total settlement amount reached was ₹65,063,200. Gautam Kumar, Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, further noted that all office staff and Para-Legal Volunteers had been working diligently on this initiative for the past three months.