HOW TO GET FREE LEGAL SERVICES

India is a land of both “Have’s and Have not’s”. They look for earning a livelihood, plan their future and live accordingly. These people come across many obscurities and injustice in their daily life. Few people shall fight, few people shall shut. Do you know the reason? Nearly 65% of the population in India does not get proper legal aid. They are somehow unaware of their rights or unable to afford legal aid. This is what an actual obstruction of Justice. If they do not know that a wrong is being done, it is different. If they know what to do and are unable to do because of financial constraints, they are encouraging the “wrong”.

Legal service includes providing free legal aid to those weaker sections of the society who fall within the purview of Section 12 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987. Article 39 A of the Constitution states –

“The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, based on an equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen because of economic or other disabilities.”

Section 304 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, is a provision providing for legal aid to the accused at State cost in certain cases. The High Court of Judicature at Bombay made certain rules under Section 304 regarding legal aid for accused without representation before Sessions Courts. Our legal system assumes that all the citizens have equal access to means of legal service. Access to inexpensive and speedy justice is a basic human right. But, in reality, legal services of all kinds are bought by “Have’s.” the administration of Justice to the lowest level is a major setback to the Judiciary.

Free legal aid is the provision of free legal services to the poor people who cannot afford the services of any lawyer in any court, starting from Subordinate courts to the Supreme Court. These services are governed by the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and headed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

The following are the services rendered by this authority:

1. Payment of court and another processing fee
2. Charges for preparing, drafting and filing of any legal proceeding
3. Charges of a legal practitioner or legal advisor
4. Cost of obtaining decree, judgments, orders or any other documents in a legal proceedings
5. Costs of paperwork, including printing, translation etc.

The following are the persons who are entitled to a free legal aid:

1. Women and children;
2. Members of SC/ST
3. Industrial workmen
4. Victims of mass disaster, violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster.
5. Disabled persons.
6. Persons in custody
7. Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 1 lakh (in the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit is Rs. 5, 00,000/-).
8. Victims of Trafficking in Human beings or beggar

In every state, a state legal services authority and in every High court, a High Court Legal Services Committee has been constituted. District Legal services authorities, Taluk Legal Services committees have been constituted in the Districts and Taluks to give effect to the policies of NALSA. The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has been constituted to administer and implement the legal services programme in so far as it relates to the Supreme Court of India.

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LOK ADALATS:

Lok Adalat is one of the Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanisms. It is a forum where the disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at the pre-litigation stage are settled/compromised amicably. If an award made by Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal lies against thereto before any court. Lok adalats are very effective in settlement of disputes regarding money claims, damages and matrimonial cases.

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PRO BONO:

Senior Advocates of various High courts and Supreme Court occasionally take cases for free. Pro Bono work has become qualifying factors in designating one as a senior. In order to promote pro bono, the Department of Justice has taken necessary steps to maintain a database of lawyers willing to provide their services for free.

The report observes that since 1995, only 15 million people have benefited from legal aid services in a country where over 80% percent of 1.25 billion people are actually eligible for legal aid. Most of the lawyers, who are providing free legal aid are not experienced and provide unsatisfactory results.

India, being the largest democratic country, failed to implement free legal aid to the needy. Many legal awareness campaigns are sponsored by the government to provide basic legal knowledge to the poor and small villagers. A healthy combination of free legal aid and Pro Bono will make the country gain a huge hope on Judiciary.

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“The legal aid means providing an arrangement in the society so that the missionary of administration of Justice becomes easily accessible and is not out of reach of those who have to resort to it for enforcement of its given to them by law, the poor and illiterate should be able to approach the courts, and their ignorance and poverty should not be an impediment in the way of their obtaining Justice from the courts. Legal aid should be available to the poor and illiterate, who don’t have access to courts. One need not be a litigant to seek aid by means of legal aid.”

- Justice P.N. Bhagwati