OBJECTS & REASONS
The State Article 39-A of our Constitution enjoins the State to provide free legal aid to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen on account of poverty or other disabilities.
The enactment of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 is one of the steps for establishing a society in which social, economic and legal justice is available to all on equal footing. Legal Service has broadly three aspects:
- extending legal aid to persons who are living below the poverty line, to women, children, members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other persons enumerated in the Section 12 of the Act;
- holding of Lok Adalats to resolve disputes in respect of cases pending before the courts or any matter at prelitigation state;
- organizing legal literacy and awareness camps as well as legal aid programmes with a view to educate the poor, backward and weaker sections of our society about their legal rights guaranteed to them under various laws.
