Lok Adalat has no authority to dismiss pending complaint: Allahabad HC

Prayagraj (UP), Oct 9 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a Lok Adalat has no authority to dismiss a pending complaint for want of prosecution or for non-appearance of a party.

The high court further said that in a case before Lok Adalat where no compromise or settlement is arrived at, then it must return the case to the court concerned.

Allowing the petition filed by a person named Rajeev Jain, Justice Anish Kumar Gupta said a Lok Adalat can't take up the matter in its own motion without obtaining the consent of the parties and without any intimation to the complainant.

The court quashed the order passed by a Lok Adalat on December 9, 2017 dismissing a cheque-bounce complaint for non-appearance of the complainant.

It also remitted the matter to the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Etah to decide the case in accordance with law from the stage it was referred to and dismissed in Lok Adalat.

The high court in its order dated October 6 observed, "The instant case is the gravest example of such irresponsible and unauthorized action on the part of the judicial officer concerned while taking up the matter in Lok Adalat." "Thus, let a warning be issued to the concerned Judicial Officer in this regard so that he may not repeat such occurrence in future," it said.

"When no award is made as there is no compromise and settlement, Lok Adalat is duty bound to return back the matter to the court concerned from which the matter was referred to the Lok Adalat," the court further observed.

It said that in the present matter, neither party had consented to refer the case to the Lok Adalat; the accused had not even been summoned and no application for reference was on record. PTI COR RAJ ZMN