Permanent Lok Adalats: The Forum for Public Utility Services

Several things repay attention here.

Transport is by air, road or water. Rail is not named. Note the omission rather than assuming; and note that the closing words let a Government add services by notification, which is how the list is kept current.

"Postal, telegraph or telephone service" is the language of 2002. Telegraph services in India have ceased, and the way people communicate has changed completely, which is a fair thing to observe in an answer about whether the Chapter has kept pace.

"Supply of power, light or water to the public by any establishment" covers the electricity distribution companies, which in practice generate the largest share of Permanent Lok Adalat work.

"Insurance service" is there in terms. Insurance disputes are the other large category.

The list is closed except by notification. A dispute about a service that is not in clauses (i) to (vi) and has not been notified cannot go to a Permanent Lok Adalat, however deserving.

Interglobe Aviation Ltd v. N. Satchidanand, (2011) 7 SCC 463, is the case to know here, and it is worth being precise about what it decides. Air transport is already inside clause (i), so the case did not have to decide whether an airline provides a public utility service. What it decided was a jurisdiction point: an airline's standard condition of carriage providing that only the courts at Delhi would have jurisdiction was invalid, because parties cannot by agreement confer jurisdiction on a court that would not otherwise have it, and the clause applied irrespective of where the cause of action arose. Chapter 150 works it through with section 22C.

Section 22B: how one is established, and who sits on it

Section 22B(1): notwithstanding anything contained in section 19, the Central Authority or, as the case may be, every State Authority shall, by notification, establish Permanent Lok Adalats at such places and for exercising such jurisdiction in respect of one or more public utility services and for such areas as the notification specifies.

Three points.

The non obstante clause matters. "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 19" separates this body from the ordinary Lok Adalat entirely. Section 19 is not the source of its existence and its limits do not apply to it.

It is established by notification, so its existence, its seat, its territorial area and the services it covers are all matters of published record.

Only NALSA and the State Authorities can establish one. A District Authority or Taluk Committee, which may organise an ordinary Lok Adalat under section 19(1), cannot establish a Permanent Lok Adalat.

Section 22B(2): every Permanent Lok Adalat established for a notified area shall consist of:

• (a) a person who is, or has been, a district judge or additional district judge, or has held judicial office higher in rank than that of a district judge, who shall be the Chairman; and
• (b) two other persons having adequate experience in public utility service, nominated by the Central or State Government on the recommendation of the Central or State Authority.

They are appointed by the Authority establishing the Permanent Lok Adalat, and the other terms and conditions of appointment are prescribed by the Central Government.

The composition is the answer to the obvious objection to section 22C(8). If this body may decide a dispute, who is deciding? A judicial officer of at least district judge rank chairs it, and the two others bring knowledge of the service in question. That was precisely the reasoning the Supreme Court adopted in Bar Council of India v. Union of India, (2012) 8 SCC 243, in upholding the Chapter, and it is chapter 150.

Lok Adalat and Permanent Lok Adalat, side by side

This table is the single most examinable thing in Module I. Learn it.

A worked example

Sushma's electricity connection in Kalyan was disconnected and she was billed Rs. 46,000 in arrears she says she does not owe. She wants the bill corrected and the supply restored.

Is this a public utility service? Yes. Section 22A(b)(iii) covers the supply of power, light or water to the public by any establishment.

Can she go to a Permanent Lok Adalat? Yes, if one has been established by notification for that area and for that service under section 22B(1), and provided she has not already brought the dispute before a court, which is section 22C(1) and chapter 150.

Who will hear her? A Chairman who is or has been a district judge or additional district judge, or has held higher judicial office, and two persons with adequate experience of public utility services, under section 22B(2).

What if the distribution company simply does not engage? This is the whole point of Chapter VIA. Before an ordinary Lok Adalat, nothing would happen. Here, if conciliation fails and the dispute does not relate to an offence, the Permanent Lok Adalat may decide it, under section 22C(8).

Now change the service. Suppose instead her complaint is about a coaching class that took her fees and never held the classes. That is not a transport, postal, telegraph or telephone service, not a supply of power, light or water, not public conservancy or sanitation, not a hospital or dispensary, and not insurance. Unless a Government has notified coaching services as a public utility service, a Permanent Lok Adalat has no jurisdiction. Her remedies are a consumer complaint, a civil suit, or an ordinary Lok Adalat.

What beginners get wrong

A Permanent Lok Adalat is not a Lok Adalat that sits all the time. It is a different institution with different jurisdiction, different composition and, decisively, the power to decide.

Its jurisdiction is limited by subject matter, not by convenience. If the service is not within section 22A(b) or notified, the forum has no jurisdiction at all.

The Act names transport by air, road or water. Do not add categories to the definition when you recite it; note instead the power to notify further services.

It is established only by NALSA or a State Authority. A District Authority cannot establish one, although it may organise ordinary Lok Adalats.

The Chairman must be of district judge rank or higher. Do not describe the bench as a panel of laypersons.

Quick revision

• Chapter VIA, sections 22A to 22E, inserted by Act 37 of 2002 w.e.f. 11 June 2002, headed "Pre-litigation conciliation and settlement".
• Section 22A(b), public utility service: (i) transport of passengers or goods by air, road or water; (ii) postal, telegraph or telephone service; (iii) supply of power, light or water to the public by any establishment; (iv) public conservancy or sanitation; (v) service in hospital or dispensary; (vi) insurance service; plus any service notified by the Central or State Government in the public interest.
• Section 22B(1): notwithstanding section 19, the Central Authority or a State Authority shall, by notification, establish Permanent Lok Adalats for specified places, areas and services.
• Section 22B(2): a Chairman who is or has been a district judge or additional district judge or has held higher judicial office, and two persons with adequate experience in public utility service.

Test yourself

1. Which body may establish a Permanent Lok Adalat? Only the Central Authority or a State Authority, by notification, under section 22B(1). A District Authority or Taluk Legal Services Committee may organise ordinary Lok Adalats under section 19(1) but cannot establish a Permanent Lok Adalat.

2. List the six categories of public utility service in section 22A(b). Transport of passengers or goods by air, road or water; postal, telegraph or telephone service; supply of power, light or water to the public by any establishment; a system of public conservancy or sanitation; service in a hospital or dispensary; and insurance service. The Central or State Government may also notify further services in the public interest.

3. What is the composition of a Permanent Lok Adalat? Under section 22B(2), a Chairman who is or has been a district judge or additional district judge, or has held judicial office higher in rank than a district judge, and two other persons having adequate experience in public utility service, nominated by the Government on the recommendation of the Authority.

4. Why does section 22B(1) begin "notwithstanding anything contained in section 19"? Because a Permanent Lok Adalat is a distinct institution from the Lok Adalat organised under section 19. The non obstante clause makes clear that section 19 is neither the source of its existence nor a limit on it.

5. What did Interglobe Aviation Ltd v. N. Satchidanand actually decide? That an exclusive jurisdiction clause in a standard contract of carriage, purporting to confine disputes to the courts at Delhi irrespective of where the cause of action arose, was invalid, because parties cannot by agreement confer jurisdiction on a court that would not otherwise have it. It did not decide whether air transport is a public utility service, since section 22A(b)(i) already covers it.