Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, Chief Justice, High Court of J&K and Ladakh and Patron-in-Chief, J&K LSA, today inaugurated Legal Aid Defense Counsel office at ADR Centre Court Complex, Samba in presence of Justice Tashi Rabstan, Judge, High Court of J&K and Ladakh and Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority.
Sonia Gupta, Principal District and Sessions Judge, (Chairperson, DLSA) Samba, Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Commissioner Samba, SSP Benam Tosh, judicial officers, Bar members and officers of police and civil administration were present on the occasion.A ceremonial guard of honour was given to the Chief Justice.
Chief Justice and Justice Tashi Rabstan planted medicinal saplings within the Court Complex.After inaugurating the LADC office, Chief Justice addressed the gathering of lawyers and other stakeholders present in the Court Complex.
He highlighted the importance of LADC office and urged upon the general public to take maximum benefit of free legal services being provided by the Legal Services Institutions through the aegis of J&K Legal Services Authority to the needy, poor and marginalized section of the society.
While handing over the engagement orders to Deputy Chief Legal Aid Defense Counsel namely Nisha Rani (Advocate) and Assistant Legal Aid Defense Counsel Versha Anthal (Advocate), Chief Justice congratulated both the appointees and exhorted upon them to discharge their duties as LADCs with utmost dedication and honesty to serve the people of the district.
Chief Justice hoped that with operationalization of the office of LADC at Samba the criminal cases of legal aid seekers shall be defended effectively to ensure immediate relief to them.Chief Justice inspected all the courts and took stock of judicial infrastructure at Samba.
He also had a meeting with the Advocates to take stock of their grievances. He assured them of remedial measures to address all the issues highlighted in the meeting.The staff members of District Court, Samba also felicitated the Chief Justice and the Executive Chairman, J&K LSA.
During an interactive session with the judicial officers, Chief Justice impressed upon them to expedite disposal of old cases on priority basis. He asked them to encourage the parties to settle the dispute through alternate modes of resolving the dispute with the help of mechanism created by Legal Services Authority.
Later, Chief Justice visited the Conference Hall in the office of Deputy Commissioner Samba and inaugurated an awareness programme on the topic “Expanding Horizons of Access to Justice and Role of Legal Services Authorities”.
During the programme, Principal District and Sessions Judge, Samba formally welcomed the dignitaries whereafter a faculty member of Bhargava College, Samba and two students, one from Government Degree College (Girls), Samba and another from Dogra Law College, Bari Brahmana delivered talk on the topic which was appreciated by the Chief Justice and the guest of honour.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice, N. Kotiswar Singh urged upon all the students present in the programme to read the preamble of the Constitution like a poem. He also highlighted the importance of the knowledge of basic laws for becoming a good and responsible citizen.
He further impressed upon the students to work Pro-bono as Para Legal Volunteers and spread awareness about various schemes launched by the Government and Legal Services Authorities in order to make difference at their individual level to ensure that the benefit of the same reaches to those for whom the same have been formulated.
In his address, Justice Tashi Rabstan underlined the need for spreading awareness regarding various schemes launched by NALSA as well as UT Government for the benefit of those falling in the category of persons entitled to legal aid under the Legal Services Authorities Act.
He impressed upon the faculty members present in the programme to encourage the students for participation in such programmes which would enable them to become good citizens.
Deputy Commissioner, in her speech, highlighted the steps taken by the Government in general and Samba administration in particular to mitigate the sufferings of the downtrodden and marginalized sections of the society. She also took pride in informing the gathering that a Legal Aid Clinic was working in her office.
While appreciating the work done by DLSA Samba, she said that every college and school in Samba is having a Legal Literacy Club. She assured the full support to the DLSA Samba in all its endeavors.
The programme was attended by Shahzad Azeem, Registrar General, Y.P. Bourney, Registrar Vigilance, M.K. Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Justice, Rajinder Sapru, Registrar Rules, Amit Kumar Gupta, Member Secretary J&K Legal Services Authority, Anoop Sharma, Registrar IT, Prem Sagar, Secretary HCLSC, Pravin Pandoh, Joint Registrar Judicial/Protocol and other civil and police officials, Advocates, Principals, faculty members and students of different Government colleges and law colleges.
The proceedings of the programme were conducted by Rekha Kapoor Nischal, Secretary DLSA Samba whereas vote of thanks was proposed by Advocate Hitesh Sharma.