Three crore cases pending in courts: Minister

Chennai:

More than three crore cases are pending before various courts, according Union minister for law and justice Aswin Kumar.

Delivering a keynote address during the Eleventh All India Meet of State Legal Services Authority here on Saturday, Kumar said that during 2011, more than 41 lakh cases were settled through lok adalats. He said that 11,80,000 people have been provided with legal aid through 1,07,448 legal awareness camps.

During the event four legal aid clinics were opened in various parts of the city. These include one at the Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk, one in The Banyan, Mogappair, One at State Legal Services Authority and State Commission for women at Chepauk.

Madras High court judge and executive chairman of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority Elipe Dharma Rao highlighted the success of lok adalats. He said while in 2010, only 39,039 cases were settled in lok adalats, the number went up in 2011 to 79,714 and in 2012 it was 78,291. He said the award amount in 2010 was Rs 296 crore and it rose to Rs 476 crore in 2011 and Rs 701 crore in 2012. “All this has not happened over night and this is mainly because of the efforts put in by Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority.