In which of the following States of India the first-ever E-Lok Adalat was started during the COVID-19 period ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, Chhattisgarh. Per the official key, Chhattisgarh (through its State Legal Services Authority) held India's first-ever e-Lok Adalat during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, using video-conferencing to settle disputes when physical courts and Lok Adalats could not sit. The e-Lok Adalat carried the normal legal force of a Lok Adalat while keeping proceedings contactless during the pandemic. (The answer is fixed by the key; the exact launch date is not asserted here.)

Why the other options are wrong — (a) UP was not credited with India's first e-Lok Adalat; per the key that distinction went to Chhattisgarh.  (b) Maharashtra was not the state that started the first e-Lok Adalat during the pandemic in this question's framing.  (d) Bihar was not the first; the official key marks Chhattisgarh as the state that pioneered the e-Lok Adalat during COVID-19.

Concept: A Lok Adalat ('People's Court') is a statutory alternative-dispute-resolution forum under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, giving effect to the Article 39A directive of free legal aid. Its award is deemed a decree of a civil court, is final, and no appeal lies against it. The legal-aid machinery is tiered: NALSA at the apex, then State Legal Services Authorities (SLSA), District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA) and Taluka Legal Services Committees. During COVID-19, states moved these hearings online — the 'e-Lok Adalat' — to keep dispute resolution running while courts were physically shut.

State PCS 2020 Q49 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q49 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer