On the Occasion of Teacher’s Day, a seminar was organized at Army Institute of Law, Sector 68, Mohali by Punjab State Legal Services Authority. During the seminar, Dr. Mandeep Mittal, Additional Member Secretary, Punjab State Legal Services Authority encouraged 250 students to build their aspirations and constantly work on it.
He apprised the Law Students about various aspects of Legal Services Authority and motivated them to participate in the activities of Punjab Legal Services Authority by way of Para Legal Volunteer Scheme and spread awareness about the existence of Legal Services Institutions to the masses. The Para-Legal Volunteers (PLVs) are expected to act as intermediaries bridging the gap between the common people and the Legal Services Institutions to remove impediments in access to justice. Ultimately, the process aims at Legal Services Institutions reaching out to the people at their doorsteps rather than people approaching such Legal Services Institutions.
During the seminar, Dr. Mittal informed that Punjab State Legal Services Authority is providing Free Legal Aid to the weaker and marginalized segments of the society. Any person who falls under following categories is entitled to avail free legal aid;
• A member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
• A victim of trafficking in human beings or beggar.
• A woman or a child.
• A person with disability such as suffering from blindness, leprosy, loco Moto disability, hearing impairment, mental incapacity.
• A victim of mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake of industrial disaster.
• An industrial workman.
• An Undertrial in custody, including a juvenile or a mentally ill person in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home.
• A person with an annual income of less than Rs. 3,00,000/-.
A short movie “Razinaama” was also played during the event to make the students aware about the functioning and benefits of Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism.
Further, students were also made aware about various NALSA Schemes such as NALSA (Legal Services to Disaster Victims through Legal Services Authorities) scheme, NALSA (Legal Services to Victims of Acid Attacks) Scheme, 2016 etc.
The students were also informed about the “Punjab State Legal Services Authority 24x7 Toll Free Helpline Number 1968”.
An interactive session was also held during the seminar and prizes were distributed to the students on behalf of Punjab State Legal Services Authority.