SC lawyers reaching out to poor with free aid
THIS TURNAROUND IS A RESULT OF AN INITIATIVE LAUNCHED BY THE SCLSC CALLED ‘SAHYOG’, MEANT TO ACCELERATE FILING OF PETITIONS ON BEHALF OF APPLICANTS
NEW DELHI: Advocates associated with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) have been going an extra mile to clear the backlog of over 1,000 cases while providing free legal aid to the poor. Over the last six months, lawyers have been reaching out to litigants, visiting their homes to collect case documents and filing them in a timebound manner to secure justice for the applicants at the earliest.
This turnaround in the functioning of SCLSC came in May this year when the authority launched a new initiative called “SAHYOG” to accelerate filing of petitions on behalf of applicants.
Twenty-five young lawyers were selected from the SCLSC panel to tackle the mounting arrears. The cases were reassigned to them with an assurance that the task would be completed in a timebound manner. To start with, the authority listed out 1,188 cases, of which 776 were criminal and 412 civil. The oldest four cases pertained to 2005.
In criminal cases, SCLSC took assistance of state legal services authority. Paralegal volunteers were sent to jails to meet inmates who had approached SCLSC for filing their criminal appeals. This was done to reconstruct files as the cases were old and papers could not be retrieved. Lawyers assigned civil cases contacted litigants personally.
According to a report prepared by SCLSC, a copy of which is with HT, a total of 3,800 cases were pending with the authority as on January 2018. SAHYOG helped the authority to bring down the pendency to 2,612. The backlog was further reduced after it was learnt that over 500 case files with SCLSC had become in fructuous.
As of now, 2,144 files with SCLSC are pending. The authority provides free legal services to litigants whose annual income does not exceed ₹1.25 lakh a year, women, children, senior citizens, differently abled, victims of human trafficking, mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocities, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster, along with members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Persons in custody and industrial workmen receive legal assistance irrespective of their financial status. Headed by a Supreme Court Judge (currently Justice Madan B Lokur), the SCLSC has nine members in its executive body.
SAHYOG has received support from the Supreme Court on judicial side. Judges are hearing appeals even though they are being filed much after the limitation period fixed to approach the top court. In one case, the court had condoned the delay of over 3,000 days in approaching it.
Advocate Dushyant Parashar, who took up a 93-year-old woman’s case under SAHYOG, lauded the effort undertaken by SCLSC. Parashar’s client wanted the court to direct the illegal occupants, who were evicted on the orders of Allahabad High Court, to compensate her.
“The case assigned to me was pending with the SCLSC for almost two years. I personally went to her Ghaziabad residence and got the relevant documents required for filing the case, which was decided on the first day of hearing on May 27. Although the court did not rule in her favour, was satisfied with the endeavor made. Thankfully SAHYOG was able to provide justice to her in her lifetime as she died months later after her case was decided,” Parashar said.