As SC courtrooms turn into lok adalats, speedy justice and quick wit

In a reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal said that as of December 2023, the pendency in Supreme Court was 807,65 cases, nearly 35% up from 59, 859 cases at the end of 2019.

Lok Adalats are an alternative dispute redressal mechanism, where the aim is to settle or compromise cases amicably. While litigants get the benefit of swift justice and substantially reduced litigation costs, as per the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, the decision of the court is binding and it cannot be appealed against.

This week, several senior lawyers and advocates on record (lawyers qualified to file cases in the SC) will sit with judges in the special benches. For example, in the CJI’s court on Monday, June 29, Supreme Court Bar Association President and senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association President Vipin Nair sat with the CJI-led bench.

During the proceedings, several senior lawyers were seen watching the proceedings to get a sense of the format since they would have to be part of the hearings in the coming days.

In the special Lok Adalat benches, both the composition of the court and its conduct is less formal. Justice Sanjiv Khanna, heading the Lok Adalat bench in court number 2, was seen in a brown suit while Justice B R Gavai, heading the bench in court number 2, was dressed in a light green Nehru jacket, a departure from the trademark black suit and robes.

In the Chief Justice’s courtroom, the cases listed were largely tax related. According to a March 2024 circular by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Centre set monetary limits for filing appeals in courts in taxation matters. For the Supreme Court, this limit is Rs 2 crore – which means, no dispute below this limit should reach the court. On Monday, the Centre withdrew several cases that did not not qualify this monetary limit. The CJI referred to these as “low tax” matters and the label quickly caught on with every lawyer mentioning their “low tax” cases.

In another courtroom before a bench headed by Justice Khanna Kant, several long pending insurance cases were settled. In one case, to expedite the process, Justice Khanna read out the cell phone number of the party to a lawyer appearing virtually and asked him to immediately get instructions from his client. “They (the insurance company) are willing to pay you. You can take the money and walk away happily,” Justice Khanna told the lawyer as the courtroom erupted in laughter.