JAMMU, Mar 25: The e-Lok Adalats concept is proving efficacious in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh with disposal rate of cases at 70% as assessed by the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA). Moreover, over 7 lakh hearings have been conducted by the High Court of J&K and Ladakh and Subordinate Judiciary thereby considerably saved time and money besides helping the litigants.Lok Adalat is organized at such intervals as felt required with a view to reduce pendency of cases in courts and settle disputes at pre-litigation stage. During the Covid pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ingeniously integrated technology to move Lok Adalat on to the virtual platform, better known as e-Lok Adalats.The first e-Lok Adalat was held in Madhya Pradesh on 27.06.2020 and later directions were issued to all the High Courts across the country to start e-Lok Adalats, which are organized simultaneously with regular Lok Adalats and benches are constituted on the basis of volume of cases referred by various courts or tribunals and institutions for pre-litigation cases.
