VIJAYAWADA: NTR district topped in settling cases in the National Lok Adalat held on Saturday. As many as 11,630 cases were solved in the district followed by 11,319 in Visakhapatnam, 9,145 in Krishna and 8,752 in Kakinada districts. Of the 11,630 cases settled in the Lok Adalat, 2,592 were related to IPC crimes, 716 were special Act cases and 8,322 were petty cases filed across stations in the NTR district.
National Lok Adalat was held across the State under the aegis of the AP State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA) and the High Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC) on Saturday. A total of 380 benches, presided over by judicial officers of different cadres, settled 94,263 cases across the State.
Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, where the disputes or cases pending in the court of law or at the pre-litigation stage can be settled amicably. It plays a major role in the settling of pending compoundable criminal, cheque bounce, Motor Vehicles Act, road accident, labour and civil cases.
It has been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and the judgement pronounced by the Lok Adalat judges is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law.
If the parties are not satisfied with the judgement (though there is no provision for an appeal against such an award), they are free to initiate litigation by approaching the court in the appropriate jurisdiction by filing a case following the required procedure, in the exercise of their right to litigate.
Vijayawada Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata said the department has laid focused on pending and under investigation cases and applied to Lok Adalat for the cases in which both the parties were willing to a compromise.
State-wide Lok Adalat figures
NTR district (11,630), Visakhapatnam (11,319), Krishna (9,145) Kakinada (8,752), East Godavari (7,049), Chittoor (6,613), Srikakulam (6,311), Tirupati (5,619), Vizianagaram (5,594), Anakapalli (5,164), Anantapur (5,151), Kadapa (4,799), Palnadu: (4,472), Konaseema: 4,041, Guntur (3,908), Prakasam: 3,624, Eluru: 3,620, Annamaya (3,416), Kurnool: 3,320, Bapatla: 3,103, West Godavari: 2,210, Parvathipuram Manyam: 1,717, Sri Sathya Sai: 1,224 , Nandyal: 598, Nellore: 266, Alluri Seetha Rama Raju: 87