The Legislative Department is mandated with drafting of laws on the basis of the policy decision taken by the concerned administrative Ministries/Department of the Government of India and as per the procedure prescribed by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in the Manual of Parliamentary Procedure in the Government of India. The Legislative Department has been taking necessary steps to ensure that legislative drafting is simple, plain, precise and unambiguous. The Institute of Legislative Drafting and Research offers training in legislative drafting with the focus on drafting the legislations in simple/plain language to make it accessible for the general public.

As part of the resolve of the Government of India to reduce such compliance burden, bring reforms in the legal system and make it more accessible to the common man, so far, a total number of 1562 obsolete and redundant laws have been repealed through various Repealing and Amending Acts.                        

The Law Commission of India has also been mandated to review and suggest reforms in the laws of the country. As per notification dated 02.09.2024 the   Twenty-third Law Commission of India was constituted with the mandate, inter-alia to identify laws which are no longer needed or relevant and can be immediately repealed, examine the existing laws for promoting gender equality and suggesting amendments thereto and revise the Central Acts of general importance so as to simplify them and to remove anomalies, ambiguities and inequities.

The National Legal Services Authority was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society including beneficiaries covered under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. This Act ensures 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. In addition, National Legal Services Authority has also formulated various schemes for the implementation of preventive and strategic legal service programmes, which are implemented by the Legal Services Authorities at various levels i.e. State, District and Taluka level.  During last three years from 2022-23 to 2024-25 (upto December 2024), 39.44 lakhs persons have been provided with free legal services.

Government is also implementing a Central Sector Scheme named “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India” (DISHA) for a period of five years (2021-2026), at an outlay of Rs. 250 crores.

The DISHA scheme aims to provide easy, accessible, affordable and citizen-centric delivery of legal services through the Tele-Law, Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) and Legal Literacy and Legal awareness programme. Under the DISHA scheme, Tele-Law connects citizens with the lawyers through mobile app “Tele-Law” and Toll-Free number for rendering pre-litigation advice; Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono services) facilitates registered beneficiaries to avail pro bono legal representation in courts and under the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme, citizens are empowered to know, understand and avail their legal rights, duties and entitlements. Till 28^th February 2025, DISHA scheme through its various programmes has covered approximately 2.10 crore beneficiaries in the country.

The Government of India is implementing another Central Sector Scheme that is the Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) Scheme through National Legal Services Authority. LADCS Scheme aims to provide legal aid with regard to criminal cases only to the beneficiaries eligible for legal aid under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. The approved financial outlay of LADCS scheme is Rs. 998.43 crore for 3 years (F.Y. 2023-24 to F.Y. 2025-26). As on 30^th December 2024, LADC offices are functional in 654 districts across the country and has engaged 5251 staff including 3448 Defense Counsels. During the year 2024-25 (upto December, 2024), LADCS offices dealt more than 3.95 lakh criminal cases.

Lok Adalats are organised by Legal Services Institutions at such intervals as it deems fit, in order to reduce the pendency of cases in courts and also to settle the disputes at pre-litigation stage. Lok Adalats are one of the effective modes of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism in reducing the burden on the courts, which have received positive response from the public.

There are three types of Lok Adalats namely State Lok Adalats, National Lok Adalats and Permanent Lok Adalats.

1.  State Lok Adalats are organized by the Legal Services Authorities/Committees as per the local conditions and needs, for settlement of both pre-litigation and post-litigation cases.
2.  National Lok Adalats are conducted quarterly for settlement of cases (both pre-litigation and post-litigation) in all the courts from the Supreme Court of India to the Taluk Courts on a single day.  Every year, National Legal Services Authority issues calendar for organising National Lok Adalats. During the year 2025, National Lok Adalats are scheduled to be held on 8^th March, 10^th May, 13^th September and 13^th December.
3.  Permanent Lok Adalats are permanent establishments set up in most of the districts to provide compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for settlement of disputes related to Public Utility Services.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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Samrat/Allen

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