Our Correspondent
Kohima | April 13
Gauhati High Court judge Justice LS Jamir today said that right to ‘access to justice’ has been recognized as one of the fundamental rights. “To bring justice closer to the underprivileged segments of the society, a number of innovative measures including providing legal aid to poor have evolved with time,” said Justice Jamir at the first all Nagaland meet of district legal services authorities here at organized by Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA).
Justice Jamir, who is also executive chairman NSLSA said that Article 39A of our Constitutions provides that the state shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by sustainable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
“Article 14 and 22 (I) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the state to ensure equality before law,” he said adding that in 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament, which came into force on 9th November 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society.
“The principal objective of the legal services authorities is to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes,” said Justice Jamir adding that apart from that the functions of legal services authorities include spreading legal literacy and awareness, undertaking social justice litigations etc.
“High cost of litigation, the difference in capacity of the individual litigant to extract from the legal system, lack of adequate legal awareness, cumbersome procedures of litigation and quality of legal aid services available to poor and marginalized are some issues bothering all of us,” Justice Jamir said.
He said concerns have also been raised on quality of legal services available to the poor and marginalized largely due to the reluctance on the part of experienced and senior advocates to volunteer for the legal aid services.
Stating that the effective implementation of the ten schemes formulated by National Legal Services Authority is also a matter of concern in the state of Nagaland, he said “Victim compensation scheme under section 357A of the criminal procedure code, the performance of the legal services clinics, the under trial review committee etc are some areas where we have to put head together and evolve certain ways and means for having effective results.”
“We are dealing with the weakest section of the society who are not only economically poor but also ignorant of their legal rights due to lack of education,” said Khanrinla T. Koza, secretary, department of justice & law in her address. She urged the NSLSA to walk extra mile and extend competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society.
The working session discussed various agendas including victim compensation scheme, legal services clinics, ten schemes of NALSA-2015 & 2016, under-Trial Review Committee/Legal Service to UTPs, Lok Adalat, Legal Awareness through Print/Electronic media and other means, utilization of Grant-in-Aid & activity wise expenditure, Good practice sharing &suggestion session.
The inaugural function was chaired by Joshua Sheqi, Legal Aid Counsel & Trainer NSLSA while vote of thanks was proposed by NSLSA member secretary Nino Iralu.
