Use legal aid to empower deprived section: CJI

Kochi, Feb 17: Chief Justice of India (CJI) K G Balakrishnan today said the ambit of the legal aid should be expanded to empower the marginalised and the deprived sections of the society.

Delivering his inaugural speech at the sixth All India Meet of State Legal Services Authorities here, Justice Balakrishnan said legal aid was a tool of empowerment for the poor people in the country.

He said even though the constitution was envisaging equality to all, most of the marginalised sections of the society were yet to attain equal rights.

Justice Balakrishnan said millions of poor people in the nation could not avail their rights due to high legal cost and lack of legal awareness, and added legal aid could be a boon for them.

He said the legal aid system should ensure remission of cost, provision for travelling and boarding allowance and should also provide a lawyer for the poor litigants.

Justice Balakrishnan urged the law students to become an integral part of the legal aid system as it would be mutually beneficial for them and scoiety.

The judiciary should ensure that the rights of HIV patients, workers and prisoners were also protected, he added.

He said the judiciary should also ensure equitable access to infrastructure for the ecomomic development of the nation and uphold the political right of every citizen.

Referring to Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism, Justice Balakrishnan said the Indian version of the mechanism would be drafted to resolve disputes through arbitration and concileiation.

Vouching for CJI's observations Justice Ashok Bhan of Supreme Court such an in his speech said aid would enable the poor to have access to the legal system. He said the ADR mechanism should be taken to all High Courts, District Courts and Taluk Courts to settle disputes through concilliation and arbitration.

Justice Bhan, who is also the Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority, said the permanent Lok Adalats also had a pivotal role to play in streamlining the legal system of the country.

He said the Lok Adalats had the power to settle disputes relating to public utility services.

Justice Bhan said more efforts should be put in to make the judiciary more accesible and efficient in dispensing justice.

Speaking at the function, Supreme Court Judge Justice Arijit Pasayat said the comman man, to a ceratin extent, had lost faith in the judiciary due to four reasons--Access, Backlog, Cost and Delay.

He said exhorbitant cost and inordinate delay in dispensing justice were an anathema for the Indian judiciary which was slow and overcrowded.

UNI

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