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Permanent Lok - Adalat (PLA) is a friendly and amiable forum. It reduces the load on the overburdened judicial administration, particularly in the times of the pandemic. It is an alternate forum for certain Public Utility Services, enables creativity amongst members of the legal fraternity while providing quicker resolution of disputes, justice and win-win situation to the litigants.  

PLA is provided under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.  Features and functions of Lok - Adalat and PLA are different and distinct. PLA is applicable to PRE-LITIGATION CONCILIATION IN SETTLEMENT coming under Public Utility Services, specified under Chapter VI -A, inserted with effect from June 2002. 

 Dispute of nature explained below can be tried by the Permanent   Lok - Adalat, the subject matter of which shall not be more than Rupees One Crore. 

1. Transport Service for the carriage of passenger or goods by air, road or water;
2. Postal, Telegraph or Telephone services;
3. Supply of power/electricity, light or water for public any establishment;
4. Public conservancy or sanitation system;
5. Hospital or Dispensaries Services;
6. Insurance Services;
7. Banking and Financial Services; (By notification, applicable to State of Karnataka & Chhattisgarh) 
8. Education or Educational Institutions;
9. Housing and Real Estate Services; and supply of any kind of fuel to the public by any establishment. (By notification, applicable to the State of Chhattisgarh)
10. Any other services declared by the Central Govt. or the State Govt as Public Utility Service.

Any aggrieved party to a dispute relating to public utility service above may approach Permanent Lok Adalat before the dispute is brought before any Court.  If there is a dispute already before any Court, in such cases the jurisdiction of PLA cannot be invoked relating to same disputes. After approaching Permanent Lok - Adalat, the disputant cannot invoke jurisdiction of any Court in the same dispute.

POWERS & PROCEDURE:

Procedure for settlement of disputes before PLA is very simple and litigant friendly; it has the power to specify its own procedure for the determination of any dispute coming before it.  PLA shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and Indian Evidence Act, 1972 and it is guided by the principles of natural justice, objectivity, fair play, equity and other principles of justice.

• Any party to a dispute may make an application to the PLA requesting for settlement of the dispute. After receipt of that application, PLA directs each party to file their written statement along with supporting documents;
• After collecting all such statement and documents, PLA conducts conciliation proceedings between the parties assisting them to reach an amicable settlement of the dispute in an independent and impartial manner and it shall be the duty of every party to co-operate in good faith with the PLA in conciliation proceedings;
• In the conciliation proceedings, if the PLA is of the opinion that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, it may formulate the terms of possible settlement of the dispute and give to the parties for their observations;
• In case the parties reach an agreement on the settlement of the dispute, they shall sign the settlement agreement and PLA shall pass an Award in terms thereof;
• If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the PLA shall decide the dispute on its merits and pass Award accordingly;
• Every Award passed by the PLA shall be deemed to be a Decree of Civil Court.  The PLA may transmit the Award made by it to a Civil Court having local jurisdiction and such Civil Court shall execute the Award as if it were a Decree made by that Court;
• Every Award passed either on merit or in terms of a settlement agreement shall be final and shall not be called in question in any original suit, application or execution proceedings and it is binding on all the parties thereto and on the persons claiming under them.
• The procedure before PLA is very simple and user-friendly.  Notices to the parties may be sent through hand process, Registered Post, Courier, Email, Paper Publication or any other acceptable mode to be decided by the PLA. The first priority is to settle the dispute amicably by facilitating the parties to arrive at a compromise. If such settlement takes place, the dispute ends there itself once for all and both the parties will be a win-win situation. If it is not settled amicably, nothing stops PLA from proceeding to adjudicate the dispute; PLA has the power to decide the dispute on the basis of available evidence. As the Evidence Act and Code of Civil Procedure are not applicable to the disputes before Lok Adalat, evidence will be accepted by way of Affidavits, which drastically avoids lengthy recording evidence and arguments, which saves time and money to the parties. 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PERMANENT LOK ADALAT & LOK ADALAT:

FEE AND EXPENSES:

No fee is payable by any party in the dispute filed before PLA. After passing Award, each party is entitled to copy of Award free of cost.  However, at present, the party who approaches the PLA for the relief has to bear charges for sending notice to the opposite party against whom he has claimed relief.  

EXCLUSION:

Under clause (1) & (8) of clause (C) of Sec 22 PLA shall not have jurisdiction in respect of any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under any law.   In other words, PLA enjoys the mixed features & powers of mediation, conciliation & failing settlement between the parties, the powers of the Arbitrator to decide the dispute. 

BENEFITS:

PLA operates as an alternate forum and facilitates quick, simple and effective access to justice. PLA has implied and concurrent jurisdiction over Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums as also over Civil disputes coming under Civil Courts, etc., except to the extent of what is saved in those Acts. 

CITATIONS:

2012 SCC (8) Page 243: Bar Council of India V. Union of India

2008 SCC (7) Page 454: United India Insurance Co. Ltd V. Ajay Sinha

2016 SCC Online P & H 18112: Premium Acres Infrastructure V. PLA

2011 SCC Online Ker 3960: Dr Ambika Kumary V. State of Kerala

Prashanth Chandra. S N 

Advocate,

ADR Practitioner,

Partner, Law & Options.