Services Of Young & Talented Advocates Must Be Used To Boost Public Confidence In Legal Aid System : Justice UU Lalit

Supreme Court judge Justice U.U. Lalit, the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority was the Chief Guest for the valedictory session of the 1st All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet.

At the outset, Justice Lalit shared his views on the future of legal aid system. He stated that the first issue was to bring clarity regarding legal aid in India, the second was devising a strategy for the same and third was pondering over the means and measures to implement the said strategy.

Justice Lalit highlighted the concept of Inter-generational Equity from Environmental Jurisprudence to state that anything inherited from our forefathers should be given to next generation in a better condition. He stated that this idea could only be realized if we channelize our resources in the right direction.  

While addressing the trust deficit that persists amongst the public regarding legal aid services in India, Justice Lalit spoke about ways to bridge the gap. For the same, he stated that the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System had been formulated wherein the lawyers engaged would deal only with matters of legal aid and thus would be dedicated solely to the cause of legal aid alone.

Justice Lalit called stated that young and talented advocates should be pooled for the same so that legal aid services can become the backbone of the system.

He applauded the collaborative effort between NALSA and the Ministry of Law wherein the two will work on Tele-Law and Nyaya Bandhu App which will help in constant monitoring of the services provided by the legal aid counsels and solve the issue of implementation. He also informed the participants that e-library facility would be given to the advocates working in the Legal Aid Defense Counsel System. 

Justice Lalit stated that legal services institutions had the requisite ability to create awareness to dispense legal aid services on a grassroot level. 

According to Justice Lalit, every citizen should necessarily be provided three essential services. First, Good Quality Education; second Medical Services in Primary Health Care Centers and third, quality legal aid services. He stated that-

"The service of legal aid should be in such a manner that the person who opts for the same reposes confidence in the system that his matter will be dealt with utmost dedication and confidence and for this youngsters should be engaged as they need exposure."

He suggested that every law college should adopt atleast three talukas and employ penultimate and final year students which will encourage them to join as para-legal volunteers. He stated that there should be mandatory training of law students just like medical students.

Justice Lalit mentioned two reports prepared by Justice Bhagwati and Justice Krishna Iyer which summed up what legal aid ought to be. While doing so, he stated that the said reports were prepared somewhere between 1972-73 wherein we were virtually dependent upon the expertise of individuals, however, he highlighted that now, we had travelled miles beyond that as an institution. 

Justice Lalit emphasized upon the need for tapping the potential of Lok Adalats as one of the mode of disposal. He stated that in the last 15 months, 3 crore cases had been disposed of out of which 2 crores were pre-litigation cases and 1 crore post-litigation. 

Justice Lalit while highlighting the importance of DLSAs, stated that-

"As a legal aid institution it is our duty to see man must not be deprived of legal aid, as this part is within our command."