Absence of timely legal help to poor affects credibility: CJI

April 29, 2017 18:28

The credibility of the legal system and the rule of law have come under "severe strain" in the absence of timely help to poor and illiterate Indians, Chief Justice of India J S Khehar said on Saturday.

The CJI made the observations while highlighting the importance of para legal volunteers who, according to him, enabled ordinary and helpless people to avail the benefits of the legal system for alleviating their sufferings

and injustice.

"In the absence of timely help to most Indians, the credibility of the legal system and the rule of law comes under severe strain," he said, stressing that the poor and illiterate Indian were the main clients of the justice system.

Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also spoke at the two-day National Meet of Para Legal Volunteers in New Delhi, emphasised the use of technology in providing access and administration of justice.

Inaugurating two-day national meet, the CJI said the service to poor was a "super divine duty" being carried out by the volunteers, which was move than the "divine duty discharged by the judges".

The last-mile connectivity for a villager under the PLV scheme was not the lawyers but the PLVs working under the competent legal authorities which impart awareness of laws and legal system to them, he said.

When the disputes are such that they are beyond the capacity of these volunteers who have basic training in law, they approach the nearest legal services authority for a dispute settlement mechanism like Lok Adalat, mediation or more formal legal remedies.

"These volunteers trained under the 2009 para legal volunteer scheme act as filters relating to the number and nature of disputes that need to be formally and institutionally dealt with by the legal services. Para legal

volunteers save time and money of the poor, the official administration and the courts," Justice Khehar said.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

EC books Tejasvi Surya for seeking votes on grounds of religion

A case was booked against Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Bangalore South Candidate Tejasvi Surya for allegedly posting a video on a social media platform and soliciting votes on the grounds of religion, the Election Commission said on...

Calculated call in RCB's win over SRH

RCB next takes on Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday before returning home against the same side on May 4.

SC seeks EC reply on fresh poll if NOTA gets majority in a constituency

The top court issued notice to the Election Commission on the PIL filed by author, activist and motivational speaker Shiv Khera.

All you need to know about VVPATs

To enhance transparency and verifiability in the poll process, the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 were amended in 2013 to introduce the use of VVPAT machines. They were first used in the by-election to the Noksen assembly seat in Nagaland.

Cong suspends Surat candidate Kumbhani for 6 years, suspects BJP ties

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after a thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part...