Breaking its own earlier national record, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) set a new record of settling 3,32,936 cases in a day at the mega Lok Adalat on March 27. A record 2,63,215 cases were settled at the mega Lok Adalat on December 19, 2020.

Of the 3,32,936 cases settled, 3,13,823 were pending in courts and 19,113 are pre-litigation cases. While Rs. 1,033 crore has been paid to litigants as compensation in cases related to land acquisition, cheque bounce, motor vehicle accidents claims, Rs. 18.19 crore has been collected in fine towards compounding of offences, including traffic violations.

New national record

Justice Aravind Kumar, a judge of the Karnataka HC and executive chairperson of KSLSA, told presspersons on Monday that the KSLSA has set a new national record with the cooperation of advocates, litigants, judicial officers and staff of trial courts, and publicity given to the adalat by media.

A salient feature of this adalat was the settlement of 3,853 partition suits and 486 matrimonial disputes related to payment of maintenance and child custody as main focus of the previous one was cases related motor accident claims, cheque bounces, etc.

Amicable settlement of disputes involving a private company for a mutually agreed payment of Rs. 21 crore and payment of Rs. 58 lakh as compensation by an insurance company to a victim of motor vehicle accident were among the cases involving high financial stakes put to rest in the Lok Adalat, he said.

Justice Kumar said that the Rs. 122 crore has been saved for the state exchequer in the form of salary payable for judges and court staff due to settlement of cases on a single day. It would have taken 1,04,231 man days for the 1,100 judges and around 6,600 court staff in the State to dispose of these 3.13 lakh cases considering that a judge disposes an average three cases per day, he added.