Litigants have no right to challenge Lok Adalat decree: HC

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that litigants have no right to make vexatious challenges to the relief obtained by them from Lok Adalat.
The ruling was pronounced by Justice S Vimala while allowing a plea by five sisters seeking to quash a petition by their three brothers in a lower court challenging the settlement.
The brothers had challenged the relief obtained by them from Lok Adalat over sharing compensation awarded by the government, which took over a trust and its properties belonging to their father.
The Judge said the brothers had signed the Joint Memo of Compromise at the Lok Adalat. The sisters were right in seeking to strike off the petition pending before the Additional District Court in Dindigul.

A dispute arose between the siblings in sharing the compensation awarded by the government.
A suit was filed in this regard by the brothers at the lower court.

On February 22, 2012, the suit was settled between the two parties at a Lok Adalat and the brothers were directed to give Rs 57 lakh to their sisters.
Challenging the award, the brothers had moved the Additional District Court.
The brothers argued before the High Court that the women did not have any right over the trust property and claimed that the compromise was obtained at the Lok Adalat by fraud.

The Judge said the brothers had not explained in what way the decree passed (by the Lok Adalat) was illegal or in what way it was obtained by fraud.