The Uttar Pradesh Legal Services Authority (UPLSA) will be opening legal aid clinics (LACs) in all the tehsils across the state to ensure that people in villages and suburban areas have an access to legal services and get correct advice and quick redressal of cases that may not need to be taken to the higher courts.

This was decided following a meeting of the Authority, presided over by the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court recently.

“Earlier, we had opened legal service centres at the district level, but this time, we realised the service should be extended to the tehsil levels. After a go-ahead from the chief justice, we have decided to start this facility at the earliest,” said Sudhir Kumar Saxena, a member of the UPSLA.

A first-of-its-kind in the state, the LACs will be opened in every

tehsil and headed by a civil judge who will be the chairman of each clinic. The tehsildar will be the secretary of the clinic and the two will get an honourarium of Rs 750 and Rs 500 per month, respectively. The clinics will be held once or twice a week at the tehsil headquarters, depending on the number of cases coming to them.

“At times, people look for legal advice and have no idea where to head for it. Small things like revenue notices and tussle over boundary walls can be handled easily at the tehsil level, but people have to run to the district headquarters to get it redressed. Through these clinics, we will try to provide not just advice, but also legal help through a panel of lawyers. And all this would be done for free,” Saxena said. The clinics will also be handling cases under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act.

... contd.