LEGAL AID

PART A

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Legal aid to the poor and weak is necessary for the preservation
of rule of law which is necessary for the existence of the orderly society.
Until and unless poor illiterate man is not legally assisted, he is denied
equality in the opportunity to seek justice. Therefore as a step towards
making the legal service serve the poor and the deprived; the judiciary
has taken active interest in providing legal aid to the needy in the recent
past. The Indian Constitution provides for an independent and impartial
judiciary and the courts are given power to protect the constitution and
safeguard the rights of people irrespective of their financial status. Since
the aim of the constitution is to provide justice to all and the directive
principles are in its integral part of the constitution, the constitution
dictates that judiciary has duty to protect rights of the poor as also
society as a whole. The judiciary through its significant judicial
interventions has compelled as well as guided the legislature to come up
with the suitable legislations to bring justice to the doorsteps of the
weakest sections of the society. Public Interest Litigation is one shining
example of how Indian judiciary has played the role of the vanguard of
the rights of Indian citizens especially the poor. It encouraged the public
spirited people to seek justice for the poor. For that Supreme Court
relaxed procedure substantially. Apart from Public Interest Litigation
and judicial activism, there are reforms in the judicial process, where it
aims to make justice cheap and easy by introducing Lok Adalat system
as a one of the methods to provide free legal aid and speedy justice at the
door steps of the poor. In this article the author highlights the importance
of free legal aid in a constitutional democracy like India where a
significant section of the population has still not seen the constitutional
promises of even the very basic fundamental rights being fulfilled for
them.

CHAPTER 2
MEANING OBJECTIVES & SIGNIFICANCE OF LEGAL AID

Meaning
Legal Aid is the method adopted to ensure that no one is deprived of professional advice and
help because of lack of funds.
Therefore, the main object is to provide equal justice is to be made available to the poor and
weaker section of society. Legal aid provides free legal aid services for free to the needy or the
poor section of the society. The Indian government has brought out the service of free legal aid
to the needy people.

In India, there are a lot of poor people who are not able to earn their two times meal also for
them it is very difficult to afford an advocate for their case in such a situated problems Legal aid
provides free legal services.

Objectives

Right to Legal Aid in India

Free legal aid is necessary for those people as it is written in our Indian constitution under
Article 14 that all the people are equal to the justice should also be provided to all persons
whether they are rich or poor. Free legal aid is given to the poor who are not able to fight a case
against a powerful or a rich person can also get justice.

Legal Representation
Legal representation means that the poor and the weaker section get legal representative as
they are also the citizen of India and it is our fundamental right to equality under Article 14 of the
Constitution of India. So whether a person is rich or a poor he has the right to have a legal
representative so that they can also get free legal aid from the government. It is written under
Article 39A of the Constitution of India Free legal aid to all the citizen of India

Public education on Legal matters to indigent Person

All the citizens of India should be aware of the basic rights i.e. the fundamental rights which are
provided to all the citizens of India so that they can exercise those powers in the court. These
rights are also enforceable by the court of law.

Right to free legal aid has also become part of the fundamental rights. So the fundamental rights
should be taught to the youth of our country who are the future of our country the legal rights so
that no one can take advantage of it whether rich or poor.

All the citizens of India have the right to equality and equality before the law mentioned under
article 14 of our Indian constitution.

Significance
Article 39A - Equal Justice and Free Legal Aid. The State shall secure that the operation of the
legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide
free legal aid, by suitable legislations or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other
disabilities.
The Constitution of India under Article 39-A mandates for free legal aid to the poor and weaker
sections of society. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, as amended by the Act of 1994
which came into force on 9th November 1995, aims at establishing a nation-wide network for
providing free and comprehensive legal services to the weaker sections. It makes it obligatory
for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis
of equal opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to ensure that constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its
letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker
sections of the society.

The Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 was enacted to set up the constitutional mandates
enshrined under Articles 14 and 39-A of the Constitution of India.

Free Legal Aid movement has become the talk of the day to make the legal system accessible
to all citizens irrespective of their income. *In a socialistic democracy, the role of judiciary is vital;
it interposes between the state and an individual in relation to socialistic and unsocialistic
approach of the state's legislative measures and their implementative devised mechanism for
securing justice.
CHAPTER 3
PROVISIONS RELATING TO LEGAL AID UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Legal aid is a constitutional right supported by Articles

21 and 39-A of the Constitution of India. Article 21 of the
Indian Constitution states that no person shall be
deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to
procedure established by law.
Further, Article 39-A directs the State to ensure that
the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a
basis of equal opportunities, and shall in particular,
provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes
or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for
securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of
economic or other disabilities.
The right to get justice starts from the point when a
person is either victimized by some unlawful act or is
alleged accused of some unlawful commissions or
omissions. We stay in a society governed by rule of law
where in the basic canons of natural justice are given
supreme value. The most important aspect of the concept
of natural justice is, giving a person the right to be heard
in fair trial. Fair trial within its very wide ambit
incorporates many things which are very widely
discussed and deliberated upon by the authors in the
later sections of the article. But the most important of all
these is right to be represented by someone having
knowledge of law. A country like India, where poverty and
illiteracy have permanent abode, we cannot think of a
situation wherein a person who is a party to a suit or a
criminal matter can represent him or can be part of
hearing which is the most essential segment of natural
justice, unless he is represented by someone knowing
law, that is an advocate or a lawyer. As mentioned earlier
in a country which is badly struck by poverty and
destitution, very few of the grand citizenry can actually
think of appointing a practicing lawyer paying hefty sum
of money to represent his case. Though the advocates by
virtue of professional ethics are supposed to take up the
matter of anyone seeking their assistance, without
considering how much they are going to be paid and what
is the merit involved in the matter, yet in this era of
dissolution of all ethics and virtue no one can demand
the professionals of advocacy are any exception; and thus
in recent times generally, the main motto of advocacy like
any other profession is to earn money.
But we have the germ of free legal aid enshrined in our
law of the land from very long time. Section 304 of Code
of Criminal Procedure in India2 and Article 39-A3 coupled
with Articles 144 and 215 of Indian Constitution have
place it a very important place altogether. Contribution of
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyar and Justice Bhagwati working
under the novel notion of Judicial Activism has actually
expanded the dimension of free legal aid to a far greater
horizon.
The contribution of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer towards
the development and incorporation of the concept of legal
aid in the Indian legal system has been tremendous. His
report titled Processionals Justice to Poor has gone a step
further in enabling the recognition of the poor for the
purpose of giving legal aid. In a report on free legal aid in
1971, Justice Bhagwati observed that: “Even while
retaining the adversary system, some changes may be
effected whereby the judge is given greater participatory
role in the trail so as to place poor, as far as possible, on
a footing of equality with the rich in the administration of
justice."
The Apex Court of India while upholding the
constitutional mandate has given some epoch breaking
judgments like M.H. Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra,
Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar7 and Khatri (II) v.
State of Bihar8 thereby strengthening the notion of free
legal aid in India. In the various parts of the article the
authors will try to see that how the free legal aid has
developed in India during last few decades and emerged
out as one of the most important facet of various other
concomitants of right to life.

CHAPTER 4
THE LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITIES ACT 1987

1/ historical background

"Legal Aid scheme was first introduced by Justice P.N. Bhagwati under the Legal Aid Committee
formed in 1971. According to him, the legal aid means providing an arrangement in the society
so that the missionary of administration of justice becomes easily accessible and is not out of
reach of those who have to resort to it for enforcement of its given to them by law" the poor and
illiterate should be able to approach the courts and their ignorance and poverty should not be an
impediment in the way of their obtaining justice from the courts. Legal aid should be available to
the poor and illiterate. Legal aid as defined, deals with legal aid to poor, illiterate, who don't have
access to courts. One need not be a litigant to seek aid by means of legal aid. Legal aid is
available to anybody on the road.

Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the
legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide
free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities
for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a
legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to
ensure that constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made
available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.}
The earliest Legal Aid movement appears to be of the year 1851 when some enactment was
introduced in France for providing legal assistance to the indigent. In Britain, the history of the
organised efforts on the part of the State to provide legal services to the poor and needy dates
back to 1944, when Lord Chancellor, Viscount Simon appointed Rushcliffe Committee to
enquire about the facilities existing in England and Wales for giving legal advice to the poor and
to make recommendations as appear to be desirable for ensuring that persons in need of legal
advice are provided the same by the State. Since 1952, the Govt. of India also started
addressing to the question of legal aid for the poor in various conferences of Law Ministers and
Law Commissions. In 1960, some guidelines were drawn by the Govt. for legal aid schemes.

aims
In India, legal services exist at three levels i.e.- The center, state and, the district level. The
central government establishes the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the
Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC).

The State Government establishes the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) and the High
Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC). The State government also establishes the District
Legal Services Authority (DLSA).

Section 11A and 11B of the Legal Services Authority Act deal with the Taluk Legal Services
Committee.

Some functions are common to all authorities. These can be classified into two types i.e.-
Pre-litigation and post-litigation services. The authorities intend to follow the principle that
prevention is better than cure, hence a large emphasis has been paid to pre-litigation services
through legal awareness, legal camps, legal advice, and legal education.

It is also the duty of all of these authorities to provide for post-litigation services in the form of
free of charge representation in court and aid in other court related expenditure.

Objectives

· To lay down policies and principles for making legal services available under the
provisions of the Act;
· To frame the most effective and economical schemes for the purpose of making legal
services available under the provisions of this Act;
· To utilize the funds at its disposal and make appropriate allocations of funds to the
State Authorities and District Authorities;
· To take necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to consumer
protection, environmental protection or any other matter of special concern to the weaker
sections of the society and for this purpose, give training to social workers in
legal skills;
To organize legal aid camps, especially in rural area, slums or labour colonies with
the dual propose of educating the weaker sections of the society as to their rights as
well as encouraging the settlement of disputes through Lok Adalats,
· To encourage the settlement of disputes by way of negotiations, arbitration and
conciliation;
· To undertake and promote research in the field of legal services with special
reference to the need for such services among the poor;
· To do all things necessary for the purpose of ensuring commitment to the
fundamental duties of citizens under Part IV-A of the Constitution;
· To monitor and evaluate implementation of the legal aid programmes at periodic
intervals
· To provide grants-in-aid for specific schemes to various voluntary social service
institutions
· To take appropriate measures for spreading legal literacy and legal awareness
amongst the people and, in particular, to educate weaker sections of the society.
· To make special efforts to enlist the support of voluntary social welfare institutions
working at the grass-root level,
· Monitor the functioning of State Authorities, District Authorities, Supreme Court
Legal Services Committee, High Court Legal Services Committees, Taluk Legal
Services Committees and voluntary social services institutions and other legal
services organizations
· To give general directions for the proper implementation of the legal services
programme

SIGNIFICANCE
Equal access to the law is one of the basic rights of every citizen. The main reasons that direct
the necessity of free legal aid are:

1. It provides legal services to the vulnerable sections of society.

2. It enables the eradication of differences between rich and poor due to the privileges bagged
by the riches.

3. It will ensure that the restrictions are put on the privileged group of the societies from taking
the law into one’s hands.

The main core of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 is the hierarchical legal service
institutions in the district, state and centre, criteria for providing legal aid, Lok Adalat and free
legal aid. The hierarchical legal service system in India exists at three levels. They are:

National Legal Service Authority(NALSA) and Supreme Court Legal Services Committee
(SCLSC)
State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) and the High Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC)
District Legal Services Authority(DLSA)

Composition powers & functions of the act

Composition: A nationwide network has been envisaged under the Act for providing legal aid
and assistance. National Legal Services Authority is the apex body constituted to lay down
policies and principles for making legal services available under the provisions of the Act and to
frame most effective and economical schemes for legal services. It also disburses funds and
grants to State Legal Services Authorities and NGOs for implementing legal aid schemes and
programmes.

In every State a State Legal Services Authority is constituted to give effect to the policies and
directions of the Central Authority (NALSA) and to give legal services to the people and conduct
Lok Adalats in the State. State Legal Services Authority is headed by the Chief Justice of the
State High Court who is its Patron-in-Chief. A serving or retired Judge of the High Court is
nominated as its Executive Chairman.District Legal Services Authority is constituted in every
District to implement Legal Aid Programmes and Schemes in the District. The District Judge of
the District is its ex-officio Chairman.

Taluk Legal Services Committees are also constituted for each of the Taluk or Mandal or for
group of Taluk or Mandals to coordinate the activities of legal services in the Taluk and to
organise Lok Adalats. Every Taluk Legal Services Committee is headed by a senior Civil Judge
operating within the jurisdiction of the Committee who is its ex-officio Chairman

Powers & functions

Functions of the Central Authority

1. Lay down policies and principles for fulfilling the provisions of the Legal Services Act.
2. Frame the most economic schemes for providing legal aid to the poor.
3. Utilize funds at their disposal to be given to the State and District authorities.
4. Organize Legal Aid camps in rural and slum areas.
5. Undertake and promote research in the field of Legal aid, with special emphasis on
providing legal aid to the poor.
6. To do all things necessary for the fulfillment of fundamental duties given under Part IV-A
of the Constitution.
 7. Develop in consultation with the Bar Council of India, programs for clinical legal
education.
8. Take appropriate measures for spreading legal literacy and legal awareness amongst the
people and, in particular, to educate weaker sections of society.
9. Make special efforts to enlist the support of voluntary social welfare institutions working
at the grass-root level.
10. Coordinate and monitor the functions of State Authorities, District Authorities, Supreme
Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Legal Services Committees, Taluk Legal
Services Committees and voluntary social service Institutions and other legal services
organizations and give general directions for the proper implementation of the program.
11. Provide grants and aids for various schemes and social service institutions.

Functions
The state authority has the responsibility to give effect to the directions issued by the Central
authority. It provides legal services like the central authority and also conducts Lok Adalats.
Besides this the authority also has other functions as follow:
1. Give legal services to persons who satisfy the criteria under the act.
2. Conduct Lok Adalats for all types of cases
3. Undertake preventive and strategic Legal Aid programs.
4. Perform other functions as notified by the central authority to the state authority from
time to time
Taluk Legal services committee
Section 11A and 11B of the Legal services authorities act deals with the Taluk Legal services
committee. The state authority shall constitute a committee for every Taluk which may be
referred to as the Taluk Legal services committee.

The committee shall consist of a Senior Civil Judge operating within the limits as an ex-officio
Chairman, and other such members prescribed and nominated by the state government in
consultation with the chief justice of High Court.

Eligibility
Eligibility Criteria for Free Legal Aid
The committee headed by Justice even mentioned the eligibility criteria for the people to be
eligible for free legal aid. The provision has also been mentioned in the Code of Criminal
Procedure under section 304 to provide free and competent legal aid at the expense of state to
a marginalised person of the society. It was also ruled in Hussainara khatoon vs. State of Bihar
to provide legal aid to the marginalised class of the society at the cost and expense of the state
and it shall be the duty of the state to provide such legal aid to the accused.

In similar grounds, it was also ruled in Suk Das vs. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh
wherein the apex court ruled that failure to provide legal aid to the accused who can’t afford
because of socio-economic problems could lead to set aside of conviction or sentence of the
accused.
As per the directives are given in Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 following are the people
eligible for free legal aid:
1. To any Member of Scheduled Caste and Tribe.
2. A person who has suffered from natural calamity, industrial worker, children, lunatic and
a person not in his senses, physically handicapped, persons in the custody of the police.
3. People who are having an annual income of less than 1 lakhs.
4. Mentally disturbed
5. A woman and child
6. a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake,
industrial
7. disaster and other cases of undeserved want;
8. If a person is unable to take legal aid because of prevalent poverty and an adverse
situation.
9. In cases of the order by a competent court
10. In cases of greater public importance
11. Victims of Human Trafficking

Lok adalat & permanent lok adalat

Permanent Lok Adalat
The other type of Lok Adalat is the Permanent Lok Adalat, organized under Section 22-B of The
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Permanent Lok Adalats have been set up as permanent
bodies with a Chairman and two members for providing compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for
conciliation and settlement of cases relating to Public Utility Services like transport, postal,
telegraph etc. Here, even if the parties fail to reach to a settlement, the Permanent Lok Adalat
gets jurisdiction to decide the dispute, provided, the dispute does not relate to any offence.
Further, the Award of the Permanent Lok Adalat is final and binding on all the parties. The
jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalats is upto Rs. One Crore. Here if the parties fail to reach
to a settlement, the Permanent Lok Adalat has the jurisdiction to decide the case. The award of
the Permanent Lok Adalat is final and binding upon the parties. The Lok Adalat may conduct the
proceedings in such a manner as it considers appropriate, taking into account the
circumstances of the case, wishes of the parties like requests to hear oral statements, speedy
settlement of dispute etc
Lok Adalat
NALSA along with other Legal Services Institutions conducts Lok Adalats. Lok Adalat is one of
the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, it is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the
court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably. Lok Adalats have been
given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Under the said Act, the
award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final
and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law. If
the parties are not satisfied with the award of the Lok Adalat though there is no provision for an
appeal against such an award, but they are free to initiate litigation by approaching the court of
appropriate jurisdiction by filing a case by following the required procedure, in exercise of their
right to litigate.
There is no court fee payable when a matter is filed in a Lok Adalat. If a matter pending in the
court of law is referred to the Lok Adalat and is settled subsequently, the court fee originally paid
in the court on the complaints/petition is also refunded back to the parties. The persons deciding
the cases in the Lok Adalats are called the Members of the Lok Adalats, they have the role of
statutory conciliators only and do not have any judicial role; therefore they can only persuade
the parties to come to a conclusion for settling the dispute outside the court in the Lok Adalat
and shall not pressurize or coerce any of the parties to compromise or settle cases or matters
either directly or indirectly. The Lok Adalat shall not decide the matter so referred at its own
instance, instead the same would be decided on the basis of the compromise or settlement
between the parties. The members shall assist the parties in an independent and impartial
manner in their attempt to reach amicable settlement of their dispute.

CHAPTER 5
CLIENT COUNSELLING

Clinet counseling

Counselling is all about giving your client all the information he/she needs related to their case
or problem, in order to make a decision. Counselling is one of the main functions of a lawyer.
You might be thinking client counselling is just a little part of a law professional’s job but no,
you’re wrong. Client counselling is the art and science of talking, understanding, observing and
culling the truth out of your potential client. In the process of counselling, usually the lawyers
exercise a great deal of power in controlling the outcome of the counselling, guiding their client
through the decisions, making the clients a passive spectator. In the end, the counsellor ends up
making decisions for the clients.

With the passing of time, the legal profession evolved and the concept of client-centred
counselling became an acceptable practice. The concept of client counselling or client-centred
counselling involves the lawyer to assist his client in taking the decisions and not take decisions
on behalf of them. Unlike other counselling, in legal counselling, the client might be looking for
possible remedies for his situation. Many leading counselor’s say that it pays to keep asking and
trying to answer that very question. According to the research work titled “Client Counselling for
Tomorrow’s Lawyers” by Ph.D., Mrs. Srividya Jayakumar the process of counselling has two
functions:
1. To help the person talk about, explore and understand his or her thoughts and feelings
and workout that what he or she might do before taking action; and
2. To help the person decide on his or her own solutions.
Legal Counselling is the process by which a lawyer communicates advice to a client. I cannot
emphasize anymore over the fact that it is the duty of an advocate to fearlessly uphold the
interests of his client by all fair and honourable means without regard to any unpleasant
consequences to himself or any other. Let’s have a look over some basic elements that a
practising professional or even a budding lawyer should keep in mind while counselling their
potential client.
Need of counseling
The lawyers require to know the factual dimensions of their client's situation.
Factual matrices are the conditions for laws to operate. "Neat packages of fact are a
predicate for professional activity by lawyers".10 One fundamental purpose of
interviewing is to know the facts story. The responsibility of gathering the facts is that
of the lawyer. The fact that the client has approached a lawyer itself conveys that he or
she has identified some legal problems. But the client may not know what matters, facts,
instances and documents are significant and relevant. The lawyer will have to extract the
necessary information and identify the legally sensitive facts. Expression of feelings like
disillusionment, disgustion, pain etc can also constitute important facts. Identification of
witnesses, documents etc, are also done by interviewing.
The second significant purpose of interviewing is building the professional
relationship with the client. The lawyer shall ensure to the client that his interests will be
well taken care of and he and his feelings will be genuinely respected. Mutual trust is the
characteristic feature of the professional relationship. If the client does not trust he may
not divulge certain secrets and may find uneasy to discuss certain delicate matters. It is
pertinent to note that the duty to maintain confidentiality is implicit in the lawyers duty to
give priority to the interests of the client. Bar Council standards of professional conduct
and etiquette mandates that the advocates shall not directly or indirectly, commit a breach
of the obligations imposed by Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act.11
In establishing the professional relationship the lawyer will be necessarily
interested in knowing certain personal details about the client, his background, credibility
etc. If the lawyer has certain reasons to disbelieve the client he shall openly discuss with
the client the factors inhibiting the trust relationship. Finally it is the preference of the
lawyers to decide whether to take up the case of the client.12 In the professional
relationship mutual obligations will be discussed and agreed upon. One interesting and
important aspect is that of fees. Quoting the fees is an art best learnt by experience.
Lawyer shall be guided by his stand at the bar, nature of the case13 and affordability of
the client. Free legal assistance to the needy is a noble duty.14 An Advocate shall not
stipulate for a fee contingent on the results of litigation or agree to share the proceeds thereof.

CHAPTER 5
PART B

Landmark judgements

PLEASE TURN ON YOUR MOBILE DATA & CLICK HERE TO SEE THE IMPORTANT
JUDGEMENT PRONOUNCED BY SUPREME COURT REGARDING LEGAL AID

CHAPTER 6

Conclusion / Bibliography