Free legal assistance to poor people in remote and rural areas

07 Dec 2023:  The government has set up the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of society as covered under Section 12 of the Act, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen because of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice based on equal opportunities.

Free legal assistance to poor people in remote and rural areas

For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been set up from the Taluk Court level to the Supreme Court. The activities/ programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities include Legal Aid and advice; Legal Awareness Programmes; Legal Services/Empowerment camps; Legal Services Clinics; Legal Literacy Clubs; Lok Adalats and the implementation of the Victim Compensation Scheme.  Details of activities/programs undertaken by Legal Services Authorities are in Annexure-A.

A scheme on Access to Justice titled

Further, a scheme on Access to Justice titled “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India” is implemented by the Government of India which aims to strengthen Pre-Litigation Advice and consultation through Tele-Law; to ensure pan - India dispensation framework to deliver Pro Bono Legal Services through Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) program and to empower citizens through Pan India Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme. 

The Scheme embeds the use of technology and developing contextualized IEC (Information, Education and Communication) material in regional/local dialects to support its intervention and to achieve easy accessibility of legal services to the poor and weaker sections of society.

The Tele-Law service seeks to connect the beneficiary with the lawyer via tele/ video conferencing facilities available at the Common Service Centers and through the Tele-Law Citizens Mobile Application. As of 30 November 2023, Tele-Law services are available across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats in 766 districts across 36 States and UTs and have rendered legal advice to 60,23,222 beneficiaries, which includes women, children, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, etc. 

The Nyaya Bandhu legal platform

The Nyaya Bandhu platform enables seamless connection on the Nyaya Bandhu Application (available on Android/ iOS) between the interested Pro Bono Advocates and registered beneficiaries entitled to free legal aid under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act,1987. As of 30th November, 2023, there are 10,629 Pro Bono advocates and 89 law schools have constituted Pro Bono Clubs to facilitate the culture of Pro bono among law students. All these services under the scheme are provided free of cost to all citizens of the weaker sections of society.

This information was given by the MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR the MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; MINISTER OF STATE FOR THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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