By Afaque Hussain
SHILLONG: At a time when the rich and powerful have easy access to justice the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority have come to the rescue of the poor who cannot afford to take the legal course.
With 38 lawyers at its service, 20 of them in East Khasi Hills, the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority is providing legal help free of cost to people who cannot pursue their case in the court of law due to financial and other limitations and thanks to the organisation, many poor citizens across the state have been able to fight legal cases in the court without much financial burden.
As per the statistics, since the year 1999 till 2011, altogether 908 people have benefitted from the services of the Authority.
Speaking to The Shillong Times about the functioning of the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority, member secretary W Diengdoh said that besides providing legal help, the organisation also conducts seminars and awareness campaigns in rural areas to inform people about its services.
“We also go to schools and villages to create awareness about the services”, he said adding that there are catalogues translated in both Khasi and Garo for the benefit of people in the rural areas.
The Authority has also conducted 130 legal literacy campaigns apart from 10 legal literacy classes in jails.
According to statistics, till date 431 Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries have been
benefitted from the services, while 61 women and 37 children have also availed the services.
Under the services, Lok Adalats are conducted where cases are disposed off at a fast pace and during the years 1999-2011, altogether 74 Lok Adalats were held in which 17,404 cases were taken up out of which 5332 cases were disposed off.
The Authority has also conducted eight jail Lok Adalats during 2009-11 in which 262 cases were taken up and 100 have been disposed off.
According to Diengdoh, mostly of the cases which come to them are maintenance cases after divorce.
The MSLSA also has a panel of mediators who takes up the cases as and when any mediation is required.
To tack care of the Under Trial Prisoners, the Authority has also opened up legal aid clinics in Tura and Shillong district jails and there are plans to open similar clinics in other district jails as well.