Permanent Lok Adalat, a panacea for ills of inflated bills

Much to his shock, Praveen Kumar (name changed), an employee with a private firm, was handed a monthly bill of Rs 3,000 by a private mobile phone company.

This was almost four times more than his regular bill. When attempts to convince the firm regarding the bill failed, he approached the Permanent Lok Adalat (PLA) seeking justice.
The three-member bench of the Adalat bailed him out of the problem by ensuring that he paid the bill he used to pay earlier and settled the matter amicably.

In another case, a student was asked by a private bank to cough up Rs 14,000 towards education loan repayment. The PLA ensured that he paid less than half of it and settled the matter. A journalist who had got a mobile phone bill of Rs 1,500, got it reduced by 50 per cent by dragging the firm to PLA.

Any person aggrieved by a public utility service, financial institution or banking institution - however small the amount in contention may be - need not remain silent any longer. The PLA offers the platform to fight for justice. The most interesting aspect is that it is done without collecting a single paise as court fee and there will be no frequent trips to the court.

“This is a pre-litigation forum, where matters with a pecuniary jurisdiction upto Rs 25 lakh, will be settled amicably. With the territorial jurisdiction of seven districts, the main objective of the forum is to help the poor. This has been started by introducing Chapter 6 (a) in the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987,” explained K Radha Krishna Holla, former district and sessions judge and presently Chairman, PLA.

The Forum has jurisdiction over Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagara, Kolar, Chitradurga, Chikkaballapur and Tumkur districts. It also handles disputes pertaining to credit cards, hospitals - both public and private - and sanitation.

No suit before court

Any aggrieved person can file an application before the Forum and the only condition is that no suit should be pending before any court of law.

“All the parties should have in their possession supporting documents and evidence. The parties can provide the documents when the opposite party arrives for reconciliation. They can argue their case themselves or hire a counsel,” explained Holla.

The Forum comprising the chairman, a district and sessions judge, and two non-judiciary members will summon the parties, when a single side seeks mediation.

“If a party fails to appear before the Forum, the matter will be disposed of by passing an award. The same cannot be challenged in any court. However, the party can move the civil court seeking implementation of the Forum’s order,” said Holla.

Speedy disposal

The Forum is known for speedy disposal of cases. “We (forum) will call both the parties and conduct hearing. If the parties do not come to an agreement, we will hold an inquiry and then decide the matter.

This inquiry will be scrutinisation of records and giving an opportunity to principles of natural justice,” said Holla.

The Evidence Act and Civil Code of Procedure are not applicable here. The parties are directed to file affidavits and their evidence will be recorded before making an award.
The forum was started in 2007. So far (till November 2011), it has disposed of 1,33, 824 cases and only 4,336 cases are pending. It hopes to dispose of the pending cases within two months and plans more awareness programme so that more people benefit.

Lok Adalat and PLA

District Chairman of Lok Adalat has to notify the adalat and one judge and one advocate will conduct hearing of a matter.

Any matter can be referred to Lok Adalat. It cannot pass orders if a party does not agree, but can direct parties to approach appropriate court.

Permanent Lok Adalat: It functions everyday. It can pass award which is final.