Indore (Madhya Pradesh): National Lok Adalat was held on Saturday. A total of 690 cases were heard at the family court out of which cases as old as 27 years (husband-wife dispute) were mutually settled with another being a 22-year old dispute. In many cases couples went back home happily together after being counselled in the court.
In the case of Kamla (53) and Harish (60), being in a dispute for the last 27 years, the parties appeared in the court and the judge asked the husband and wife to live together keeping in mind their future. The wife had filed a maintenance suit 27 years ago. When the husband did not pay the maintenance amount, she dragged him again in the family court.
On behalf of the husband, It was argued that he was ill and had two heart attacks in the past and could not pay the amount. In this, the first additional principal judge Sangeeta Madan gave them advice. They thereafter settled with an amount of Rs 4 lakh. However, the divorce case is still going on, advocate TR Raghuvanshi said.
The couple were married in 1997. The husband works in a company while the wife is a housewife. The woman's advocate Arvind Joshi said that due to daily domestic disputes, the woman had come to live with her brothers only after two-and-a- half months of marriage. Along with this, she had filed a maintenance and divorce suit against her husband. In the same year, in the matter of maintenance, the court had ordered the husband to pay Rs 4k per month but the husband did not pay. Due to this, the amount became Rs 6.50 lakh which was settled for Rs 4 lakh.
In another case, Raymond Kumar (72) and Cristene (70) got mutually united after 22 years. Advocate Pramod Joshi and Pranay Sharma said that the couple was divorced in 2006 after which they were in dispute with property and other things.
Advocate Joshi said that Cristene live in a flat owned by Raymond. They appeared in the court to resolve the property dispute. After divorce, Raymond got married and had children. The court ordered that the flat owned by Raymond will be handed over to Cristene and they will not have any dispute in the future over it.
Lok Adalat in District Court
Different tables were set up in the entire campus of District Court to deal with cases for settlement. Cases regarding electricity department, bank loan, traffic police challan and other matters were settled.
A total of 67 benches were constituted for the National Lok Adalat. In this, the cases pending in various courts were put up for settlement. These include compoundable criminal 1690, civil 1078, motor accident claim 1753, electrical 2930, check bounce 7560, bank recovery 3, matrimonial 439, other 482 cases as well as pre-litigation related to bank recovery 50,422, electrical 655 and other 12,449 cases. The cases were kept for resolution on the basis of compromise.
Lok Adalat at IMC HQ
A surcharge was given at the corporation headquarters and zonal offices. Cash counters in all the camps of the municipal corporation remained open till late night. This time the target was to collect tax of Rs 50 crore in a day. Last time the corporation had recovered revenue of Rs 32 crore.
