The District Legal Services Authority and the Taluk Legal Services Committee

Sections 9(4) to 9(6) deal with terms of office, and with officers, employees and their salaries.

Section 9(7) makes the administrative expenses of every District Authority payable out of the Consolidated Fund of the State, as with the State Authority.

Section 9(8) requires orders and decisions to be authenticated by the Secretary or another officer authorised by the Chairman, and section 9(9) saves the Authority's acts from being invalid merely because of a vacancy or a defect in its constitution.

Section 10: what a District Authority does

Section 10(1) is the delegation clause: it shall be the duty of every District Authority to perform such of the functions of the State Authority in the District as may be delegated to it from time to time by the State Authority.

Read that carefully. A District Authority's main workload is delegated, so what it does can change without amending the Act. That is why section 10(2) is so short.

Section 10(2) adds three functions of its own:

• (a) coordinate the activities of the Taluk Legal Services Committee and other legal services in the District.
• (b) organize Lok Adalats within the District.
• (c) perform such other functions as the State Authority may fix by regulations.

Clause (b) is where the Lok Adalats a student is most likely to see come from. Section 19(1) names the bodies that may organise one, and the District Authority is the one that does it most.

Section 11: coordination and direction

Section 11 mirrors sections 5 and 8. In the discharge of its functions the District Authority shall, wherever appropriate, act in coordination with other governmental and non-governmental institutions, universities and others engaged in promoting the cause of legal services to the poor, and shall be guided by such directions as the Central Authority or the State Authority may give it in writing.

Two differences from section 8 are worth a mark. The words "wherever appropriate" soften the coordination duty at this level. And a District Authority takes written directions from both tiers above it, not only from the one immediately above.

Sections 11A and 11B: the Taluk Legal Services Committee

Both were inserted by Act 59 of 1994, which is the amendment that pushed the machinery below the district.

Section 11A(1): the State Authority may constitute a Committee, called the Taluk Legal Services Committee, for each taluk or mandal or for a group of taluks or mandals.

"May", not "shall". A District Authority must exist for every district under section 9(1); a Taluk Committee is optional and is constituted where the State Authority decides one is needed. That contrast is a fair examination question.

Section 11A(2): the Committee consists of (a) the senior-most Judicial Officer operating within its jurisdiction, who is the ex officio Chairman, and (b) such number of other members with prescribed experience and qualifications, nominated by the State Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court.

The words "senior-most Judicial Officer" were substituted by Act 37 of 2002 for "senior Civil Judge". The change widens the pool: whoever is in fact the senior-most judicial officer in the taluk chairs it.

Sections 11A(3) and (4) cover officers, employees and their conditions of service.

Section 11A(5) is different from every tier above and worth noticing: the administrative expenses of the Taluk Committee are defrayed out of the District Legal Aid Fund by the District Authority, not out of the Consolidated Fund of the State. The District Legal Aid Fund is section 17, chapter 90.

Section 11B gives the Committee three functions: (a) coordinate the activities of legal services in the taluk; (b) organize Lok Adalats within the taluk; and (c) perform such other functions as the District Authority may assign to it.

The four tiers in one table

A worked example

Baban is a landless labourer in a village in Osmanabad taluk. A moneylender has taken his ration card and is threatening him over a debt of eleven thousand rupees. He cannot read, has never been inside a court, and cannot travel to the district headquarters more than twice.

Where does he start? The Taluk Legal Services Committee, if one has been constituted for that taluk under section 11A. It is the nearest body, it coordinates legal services in the taluk under section 11B(a), and its Chairman is the senior-most judicial officer there.

What if there is no Taluk Committee? Then the District Legal Services Authority at Osmanabad, which exists because section 9(1) requires one for every district.

Who decides if he qualifies? The concerned Authority under sections 12 and 13. Baban is very likely covered by section 12(h) on income, and if he belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, by section 12(a) as well.

Who might reach him first? In practice, a para-legal volunteer or a legal services clinic operating in the village, which is chapter 160. That is the part of the system designed for a person who does not know he has a remedy.

And if the moneylender is willing to talk? The District Authority may take the matter up in a Lok Adalat under section 10(2)(b) at the pre-litigation stage under section 20(2), and an award there is a decree under section 21, which is chapters 110 and 120.

What beginners get wrong

The District Judge is the Chairman by virtue of the office. There is no separate nomination and there is no Patron-in-Chief at this level.

Member-Secretary and Secretary are different titles at different levels. Sections 3(3) and 6(3) say Member-Secretary; sections 8A(3) and 9(3) say Secretary.

A Taluk Committee is optional. Section 11A says the State Authority "may" constitute one. Do not write that every taluk has one.

Section 10(1) is where most of a District Authority's work comes from. It performs functions delegated by the State Authority, and section 10(2) is only the short list of what it does in its own right.

The Taluk Committee is paid for differently. Out of the District Legal Aid Fund under section 11A(5), not out of the Consolidated Fund of the State.

Quick revision

• Section 9: the State Government, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, shall constitute a District Legal Services Authority for every district. The District Judge is Chairman. The Secretary is appointed by the State Authority and must be not below the rank of a Subordinate Judge or Civil Judge at the seat of the District Judiciary. Expenses from the Consolidated Fund of the State. Vacancy does not invalidate.
• Section 10: duty to perform the State Authority's functions in the district as delegated; and to coordinate Taluk Committee activities, organise Lok Adalats in the district, and do what regulations fix.
• Section 11: coordinate wherever appropriate, and be guided by written directions of the Central or State Authority.
• Section 11A: the State Authority may constitute a Taluk Legal Services Committee, chaired ex officio by the senior-most Judicial Officer in the taluk. Its expenses come from the District Legal Aid Fund.
• Section 11B: coordinate legal services in the taluk, organise Lok Adalats in the taluk, and perform functions assigned by the District Authority.

Test yourself

1. Who is the Chairman of a District Legal Services Authority, and how does he get the post? The District Judge, under section 9(2)(a), ex officio, by virtue of holding that judicial office. No separate nomination is required.

2. Must every taluk have a Taluk Legal Services Committee? No. Section 11A(1) says the State Authority "may" constitute one for each taluk or mandal or for a group of them. Contrast section 9(1), where a District Authority is mandatory for every district.

3. Who appoints the Secretary of a District Legal Services Authority? The State Authority, in consultation with the Chairman of the District Authority, under section 9(3). The person must belong to the State Judicial Service and be not lower in rank than a Subordinate Judge or Civil Judge posted at the seat of the District Judiciary.

4. From where are a Taluk Legal Services Committee's administrative expenses met, and why is that different? From the District Legal Aid Fund, by the District Authority, under section 11A(5). The tiers above are met from the Consolidated Fund of India or of the State; the Taluk Committee is funded through the district instead.

5. Which body may give a District Authority written directions? Both. Section 11 says the District Authority shall be guided by such directions as the Central Authority or the State Authority may give it in writing.