Compensation to the tune of Rs 20 crore was awarded to litigants

More than 20,000 cases were settled today with the mutual agreement and understanding of both parties at the state-level Lok Adalat held here in the city.

Compensation to the tune of Rs 20 crore was also awarded to the litigants.

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge and Executive Chairman of the State Legal Services Authority, presided over the Lok Adalat proceedings.

Justice Gill stressed upon the need for further strengthening of the concept of Lok Adalats.

“Lok Adalats not only provide speedy justice to the litigants, but also help in reducing the number of pending cases in the courts,” he said.

He appealed to the people to bring their cases in the special Lok Adalats for immediate and final settlement.

G K Rai, District and Sessions Judge and Chairman District Legal Services said that earlier Ludhiana district had conducted 292 Lok Adalats in which a record number of 64,728 cases were settled and an amount of Rs 103 crore had been disbursed to the litigants.

He also said that presiding officers of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Labour Officers and Conciliation Officers participated in the Lok Adalat and a number of social workers and advocates were also involved as members of the Benches.

A total number of 31 Benches were set up in today’s Lok Adalat.

Among others who were present on this occasion included G S Bakhshi Member Secretary, A K Mehta, P S Dhanoa, M S Virdi, A S Grewal, Kishore Kumar, Manjinder Singh, G S Saran, R L Ahuja (both Additional District and Sessions Judge), Rajinder Aggarwal Aditional CJM, Lachhman Singh CJM, Civil Judge K K Bansal, DBA President P S Ghuman, J K Kapila, Rajnish Gupta, Ramesh Lakhanpal, Nitin Kapila, Rajan Kumar (both advocates), Ruby Farnadies and Pappu Avinash Singh (social workers).