Pune Newsline: Pune: Friday, June 15, 2012.
A Right to Information (RTI) application by The Indian Express has revealed that although the funds received by the Pune District Legal Services Authority (PDLSA) has increased manifold in the last five years (see box), hardly any of it has been used to extend free legal aid to the underprivileged.
According to information provided by the public information officer of the Pune District and Sessions Court, funds received from the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority have been utilised for organising lok adalats, legal literacy camps, paying lawyers’ fees, buying web cameras and LCD projectors and so on.
“The funds received by the PDLSA have not been utilised for free legal aid as we have no applications from beneficiaries to claim their expenses. Moreover, these expenses are subject to clearance from the District Judge,” said M K Malabade, member secretary, PDLSA.
Free legal services offered include court fees, advocate fees, typing and documentation charges among others.
According to lawyers associated with the PDLSA, “The beneficiaries have to claim reimbursement of expenses. There is a limit on lawyers’ fees, the maximum being Rs 1,200 depending on kind of service (sending notice, contesting the case etc), while the other expenses may be reimbursed. There are few litigants who claim reimbursements as this scheme is not advertised enough.” The Maharashtra Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 states that every person who has to file or defend a case is entitled to legal aid if the person ‘is a member of the scheduled case/ tribe, or a victim of human trafficking or a beggar as referred to in Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, a woman or child, a disabled person or a victim of mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster, an industrial workman, or a person in a protection home under the Juvenile Justice Act and Mental Health Act or a person with an annual income of less than Rs 9,000.’
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