A Lok Adalat, aimed at settling cases pending for more than five years, was organised in the apex court on Saturday.

“Lok Adalat comes as a relief for a large number of litigants and as salvation for the courts burdened with large pendency of cases,” said Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, hoping even if 50 per cent of the cases listed for Lok Adalat were settled, it would be a healthy sign.

To start with, about 45 cases were listed for out-of-court settlement through mediation at the Lok Adalat organised in collaboration with the National Legal Services Authority. Cases were heard before the two benches, one headed by the Chief Justice himself and the other by Justice Ashok Bhan.

Favouring Lok Adalats at all levels, Justice Balakrishnan said the subordinate judiciary should also take initiatives to settle disputes through Lok Adalats at regular intervals. “We want the high courts to organise Lok Adalats at a larger scale,” he said, calling for public cooperation to make such ventures successful.

The CJI said Lok Adalats help in settlement of cheque-dishonour cases, motor accident claims and other criminal cases which are compoundable.

In a Lok Adalat, the disputes are settled with mutual consent of the parties involved, and a Lok Adalat cannot settle any dispute if either of the parties refuses to give consent for the settlement.

This is a step to reduce the backlog of cases. For instance, district courts of the country have over 2.5 crore cases pending.