Mumbai Lok Adalat Kicks Off By Settling 81 Cases

The first Lok Adalat in Mumbai, organised by the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), has settled 81 cases, involving Rs 45.74 crore, on the first day on Saturday.

Ten banks participated in the Lok Adalat that took up 153 cases involving around Rs 107.88 crore. The banks that participated in the Lok Adalat were: Dena Bank, with 66 cases, Central Bank (10 cases), Bank of Baroda (10), Corporation Bank (1), Bank of Mahrashtra (11), State Bank of India (5), Union Bank of India (11), Canara Bank (1) and Bank of India (20).

The only institution involved in the process was IFCI with one case worth Rs 7 crore. The actual recovery from the cases was Rs 26.31 crore of 58 per cent of the disputed amount.

 

The Lok Adalat was constituted under National Legal Services Authority Act, 1987. The adalat in Mumbai, inaugurated by the Mumbai High Court A P Shah, was held under the State Legal Authority Services Act.

R V Savant-Waghule, registrar of the DRT, said there were 7,440 cases pending with the Mumbai DRT. The settlements in the adalat were held in presence of a three-member panel, of which one is a retired high court judge. Waghule said the Lok Adalat's decision was final and cannot be challenged in any court.

Now, Mumbai has three DRTs under different territorial jurisdictions. In the state, Nagpur and Ahmedabad have one DRT each.

Waghule said at a meeting with banks, held on August 3, the DRT had empasised that powers had to be given to the officers who attend the Lok Adalt for faster decision-making. He added that notices were also sent to various parties.