NIL KUMAR PRADHAN Vs. STATE OF SIKKIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) While hearing two connected Commercial Appeals, i.e., Com. A. No. 1 of 2025 and Com. A. No. 2 of 2025, a question of importance cropped up as it was submitted by the learned Counsel for the appellants that prior to filing the commercial suits they had filed "pre-litigation suits" directly before the Lok Adalat and since the "pre-litigation suits" could not be resolved there, the commercial suits were filed.

(2.) In paragraph 15 of both the commercial suits, it is stated that the appellants filed "pre-litigation case" before the Hon'ble Lok Adalat which was registered as Pre-Litigation Case No. 100 of 2022 and Pre-Litigation Case No. 101 of 2022, which could not be settled. As such, the same was disposed of as withdrawn. The orders dtd. 23/4/2022 in both the "pre-litigation cases" passed by the Lok Adalat also reflects the said facts. As such, we considered it relevant to examine the provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (for short, the Legal Services Act), as to whether a litigant who is a party to a dispute could directly approach the Lok Adalat in "pre-litigation cases" or not. It would be relevant to answer this question as the learned Counsel submitted that in many cases this was being done.

(3.) We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties at length. The learned Additional Advocate General draws our attention to Sec. 19(5) of the Legal Services Act and submits that the Lok Adalat does not have any jurisdiction to determine and to arrive at a compromise or settlement between the parties to a dispute which is filed directly before it in "pre-litigation cases". He further submits that it is only in cases relating to "public utility services" can a case be directly filed before the "Permanent Lok Adalat" to explore the possibility of settlement.