SUBJECT- PRACTICAL TRAINING 2

TOPIC- LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY.

SUBMITTED BY-
DIVISION- ‘C’
ROLL NO- “149’
INTRODUCTION

The government of India enacted LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES ACT 1987 with the view to provide
access to justice to all. Under this act the needy persons are entailed to legal aid on the expense of the state if
they fall under any of these following criteria:
 Any person who is the member of scheduled casts\tribe
 A victim of trafficking in human beings or beggar
 A woman or a child;
 A mentally ill or otherwise disabled person:
 A person under circumstances of undeserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic
violence, caste atrocity, flood, draught, earthquake or industrial disaster;
 An industrial workman
 In custody including protective custody:
 Facing a charge which might result in punishment
According to the legal services authorities act 1987, a national legal service authority is established and legal
service authorities are established in every state, district and taluk level. The national legal service authority
is the apex body which reviews all the state legal service authorities. The intention of the legislators behind
the legislation is to provide access to justice to all.
In a country of over hundred billion population it is very difficult to provide equal opportunity of justice to
everyone. The legal service authorities thus, are working on a very monumental task in providing access to
justice to all the needy and aggrieved persons who are deprived of their rights. Legal Aid implies giving free
legal services to the poor and needy who cannot afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of a case or a
legal proceeding in any court, tribunal or before an authority.

Right to Legal Aid:

In various case laws the court has acknowledged the need and importance of legal aid.
It is very important to note that mere providing legal aid is not the intention of the legislation but the victim
should be provided a quality legal aid. What do we mean by quality legal aid?
It's very possible question in anyone's mind. By mentioning the word quality it means that state should
provide a reasonable and competent lawyer to the aggrieved. Failing to do so defeats the purpose of the
legislation.

Access to justice inheres in the notion of justice. In the preamble of our constitution justice- social, economic
and political are core principles. In their work on civil justice systems, Cappelletti and Garth point out that
the emergence of right to access to justice as 'the most human basic right' was in recognition of the fact the
possession of rights without any effective mechanism of vindication would be meaningless.[7] The 'first
wave' in this new movement was legal aid, the second was concerned with the reforms aimed at providing
legal representation for 'diffuse' interests, especially in the areas of consumer and environmental protection;
and the third, “access to justice approach,” which includes, but goes much beyond, the earlier approaches,
thus representing an attempt to attack access barriers in a more articulate and comprehensive manner.'[8]
Law should not be used as an instrument of oppression but rather as a tool to eradicate injustice and alleviate
poor by restoring their rights in a just manner whenever they are infringed.

Legal service authorities in different states have been enshrined with this purpose to make access to justice
available to all. They play a very decisive role and acts as a bridge between the needy, poor and the courts.
They are the link which shows the poor the way that how can they attain justice from the court; it includes
providing counsel, paying of court fees and fulfilling other court formalities by the authorities. Though still
it's seen that it is not enough. This approach, in short, needs some radical innovations, which goes beyond
the sphere of legal representation.

The hurdles which are possessed in this arena are sometimes very simple for e.g. in many cases the poor
litigant is not able to pay the required court fees which is in fact many a times very high for the poor litigant
thus, refraining him from knocking the doors of the court for the justice. Thus, the work of legal services
authorities can be compartmentalized in order to promote efficiency. Various other institutions like
nongovernmental organisations, human rights commissions, Commissions for women etc can work in
harmony with the legal service authority for the desired purpose. The weakness in not in the system but the
weakness is in the application of the system. Legal service authorities have been set up with the vision to
correct the application of the system. They thus, not only help in providing justice to the needy but
consequently they also helps in restoring faith of the oppressed towards the legal system. Thus, in today's
world the role of legal service authority is more sociological rather than being another legal institution of the
state.

CONCLUSION
Fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution hold out an assurance to each citizen that the state cherishes
their dignity. In order to discharge the national obligation to fashion the legal process a sure means to social
& economic justice and to ensure that no one, not even the most indigent, the poorest of the poor or one at
the bottom of the pit amongst the downtrodden is denied the right to equality before law, Article 41,
exhorted the State to make effective provision for securing, amongst others, public assistance in cases of
“disablement” or “undeserved want”. Thus, it is above the institutions of the state that they should hold on
sincerely to the vision our constitution. Legal services authority is one positive step in such direction but its
decisive role and significance depends how it organizes itself in the society and proves it worth. The
monumental task lies ahead, but as it is said: ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN ONE DAY similarly the social
malaise and ailing judiciary in delivering justice cannot be curbed overnight.