Can lok adalats grant divorce? Allahabad High Court answers in key ruling

Justices Shekhar B Saraf and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary remarked that Lok Adalat cannot usurp the powers of a competent family court.

Mutual consent divorce?

• The case began after the husband approached the DLSA in a pre-litigation matter in 2018.
• According to the records, the matter was referred to mediation on the same day it was listed and a settlement agreement was prepared.
• It was alleged that the husband fraudulently obtained the signatures of the wife and prepared a settlement term for divorce before the authority, and thereafter the matter came to be disposed of by the Authority.
• The husband later relied on the settlement and subsequent orders of the Lok Adalat/DLSA to claim that the marriage had been dissolved by mutual consent.
• The wife approached DLSA by moving a review application.
• The authority dismissed the application by the wife, but clarified that nowhere in the order passed by the authority has it been held that the marriage between the parties has been declared as a nullity.
• Feeling aggrieved by the dismissal, she moved the high court against the dismissal of the review order and the settlement/order of the authority.
• Earlier during the proceedings, the high court had directed the person serving as registrar in the state consumer disputes redressal commission, Lucknow, to explain the 2018 proceedings.
• In his affidavit, he clarified that he had merely acted as a mediator and had no authority to “grant, ratify, or pass any order of divorce.”

Lok adalat can’t adjudicate disputes or issue directions

The bench examined the provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act and the National Legal Services Authority (Lok Adalats) Regulations, 2009, and noted that matters relating to divorce cannot be referred to Lok Adalats.

The court stressed that Lok Adalats are empowered only to facilitate settlements and not to adjudicate disputes or issue directions.

“The lok adalat/ authority should be conscious and remember that when regulation 17(7) specifically proscribes grant of divorce by mutual consent, which means it was not within the legal competency of the lok adalat to grant any such prayer of divorce, it is starting to see this kind of cryptic orders passed under the regulations. Therefore, the ground taken by the respondent No 3 (husband) that the settlement/orders of the authority or the lok adalat was assumed to be a divorce is without any basis or force of law,” the court observed.

The court remarked that Lok Adalats ought to be approached for purposes of settlement terms only and not for any grant of divorce.

“It is one thing to say that Lok Adalats/DLSA have played a pivotal role in unclogging the ever bulging Judicial backlog, so as to enable more people to access justice effectively, but it is another thing to say that the Lok Adalat/ DLSA has usurped the power of a competent court and acted in a manner, which it was not authorised under the prevailing law,” the court observed.

The court observed that Lok Adalats and District Legal Services Authorities, which play a crucial role in ensuring speedy disposal of cases, are expected to exercise their powers strictly within the framework of the Legal Services Authorities Act and the regulations framed under it.

The bench cautioned that these bodies must not venture into areas that fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of regular courts and tribunals.

While disposing of the plea, the court categorically held that till date there has been no formal divorce decree between the parties.

“We dispose of this writ petition by categorically stating that till date there has been no formal divorce decree between the petitioner and respondent No.3. The petitioner shall also be at liberty to proceed in accordance with law against respondent No.3, as legally advised,” the court said.