Hoshiarpur:- District Legal Services Authority Hoshiarpur, following the guidelines of Punjab State Legal Services Authority SAS Nagar and the orders of District and Sessions Judge Hoshiarpur Rajinder Agarwal, Secretary District Legal Services Authority Hoshiarpur Neeraj Goyal organized seminars in various villages of district Hoshiarpur and sub-divisions today on the occasion of National Legal Services Day with the aim of making the general public aware about free legal services.
Secretary District Legal Services Authority Hoshiarpur Neeraj Goyal informed that the main purpose of celebrating this day is to make the general public aware about their legal rights. He said that under the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987, those people are entitled to get free legal aid, such as every person who is a member of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, a victim of great calamity/natural calamity, a victim of beggarly work, industrial worker, woman/child, in custody, mentally ill/handicapped and any person whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 300000.
Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services) and Mediation and Conciliation Centre have been established in Hoshiarpur district where prelitigation/pending cases of people are heard. He said that Legal Aid Defence Council, Hoshiarpur office has been established in Hoshiarpur district for the prosecution of criminal cases of accused.
On this occasion, Vishal Kumar, Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel and Rupika Thakur, Deputy Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel, besides panel advocates Kulvir Singh, Ashish Jyoti, Tarunveer, Bikram Bhalla, Dalvir Kumar, Namrata Minhas, Brij Bala, Manpreet Kaur Mukerian, Harkamal Singh, Harpreet Singh Hundal and Rakesh Kumar Dasuha and retainer advocates Sanjeev Kalia and Ms. Sarita Kanwar Garhshankar presided over the seminars.
These seminars were organized at Vardhman Mill, Phagwara Road, Hoshiarpur, Gram Panchayat Mona Kalhan, Gram Panchayat Bhagpur, Gram Panchayat Bhagowal, Gram Panchayat Phambian, Gram Panchayat Chandial, Hoshiarpur and Gram Panchayat Dhafar, Dasuha, Gram Panchayat Kehrawali, Dasuha and Ammunition Depot, Uchi Bassi, Mukerian, Gram Panchayat Pohari, Mukerian, Gram Panchayat Tanda Churian, Mukerian, Gram Panchayat Khushi Padhi, Garhshankar, Gram Panchayat Dainsiwal, Garhshankar and during the seminar, people were given free legal services as well as detailed information about the NALSA schemes run by the authority and the public welfare schemes of the Punjab Government.
These seminars were conducted with the support of the Block Panchayat Officers related to the villages. On this occasion, the Panchs and Sarpanches of the villages were specially present. Para-legal volunteers working at the district level and sub-division level participated in the organization of these seminars in a smooth manner.