The first State-level mega e-Lok Adalat held on September 19 resulted in amicable settlement of a record 1.15 lakh cases on a single day leading to reduction of 5.5% of the total 19.69 lakh cases that were pending before the taluk, the district and the High Court in the State.
A total of ₹330.3 crore has been awarded as compensation or settlement amount by resolving various motor vehicle accident claims cases, land acquisition cases, and other civil cases using videoconference as a mode for conducting the adalats.
Meanwhile, a sum of ₹27.33 crore has been collected for the State exchequer by closing several minor criminal cases that involved payment of fine by the alleged violators.
‘National record’
Justice Aravind Kumar, judge of the Karnataka High Court and executive chairperson of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, told mediapersons on Monday that the mega e-Lok Adalat created a national history as the it had decided the highest number of cases on a single day through virtual mode.
Interestingly, Justice Kumar said that several compoundable criminal cases, including those related to failure to wear masks as per COVID-19 norms, were put to rest as violators decided to end the cases by paying penalty as against waiting for two to three years for disposal of the cases before regular courts.
He appreciated the role of print and electronic media for giving publicity on conduct of the e-Lok Adalat while pointing out that around 30% of the total cases taken up for settlement were a result of publicity in the media as litigants approach the KSLSA based on media reports.
The e-Lok Adalat, conducted by setting up 875 Benches across the districts, had brought to an amicable end not only to 1,07,617 litigations that were pending in various courts but has also settled 7,383 pre-litigation cases.
As many as 1.07 lakh have been settled in the e-Lok Adalat of the 2.18 lakh cases, identified for settlement out of the total 16.67 lakh cases pending in taluk and district courts. Total compensation paid in these civil cases is around ₹325 crore.
Similarly, the e-Lok Adalat conducted by the High Court resolved 925 cases of the 1,325 cases identified out of the total pending 3.01 lakh cases.
Of the around 12,000 pre-litigation cases identified for settlement, 7,383 cases have been settled resulting in disbursement of around ₹12 crore as compensation.
The highest number of around 16,000 pending cases were settled in e-Lok Adalat held in Bengaluru Urban district reducing 5.5% of the total pending cases of around 2.95 lakh.