Tele-Law service is free for citizens of the country from this year,” Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law and Justice announced at the 18th All India Legal Services meet in Jaipur today. Tele–Law introduces legal aid to marginalized persons seeking legal aid by connecting them with panel lawyers through tele/video conferencing infrastructure available at Common Service Centers (CSC) in 100,000 Gram Panchayats. For easy and direct access, the TeleLaw mobile application (Android and IoS) was also launched in 2021, which is currently available in 22 planned languages. Benefiting from this digital revolution, Tele-Law has expanded the reach of legal services to 20 Lakh + beneficiaries in just five years.
During the event, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Law and Justice and the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on integrated legal service delivery. The Union Minister said that the MoU is a symbol of our common commitment to uphold the cause of justice for all and to establish the rule of law as the biggest unifying factor among citizens. Under the terms of the MoU, NALSA would provide services to 700 lawyers, in each district exclusively for the Tele-Law program. These empaneled lawyers would now also act as referring lawyers and also help in strengthening the dispute prevention and dispute resolution mechanism at the pre-litigation stage. Shri Kiren Rijiju expressed his belief that the association will help reach 1 million beneficiaries in no time.
Addressing the event, Shri Kiren Rijiju emphasized the need to de-clutter prisons through release from judicial process. NALSA through its SLSAs and DLSAs is already working in this regard through the Under Trial Review Committees (UTRCs) by making available free legal aid/legal counsel to litigants. A total of 21,148 UTRC meetings were held during last year, resulting in the release of 31,605 convicts.
The Minister appealed to the State Legal Services Authorities to further intensify their efforts to provide legal advice/assistance to undertrial prisoners so that maximum number of undertrial prisoners are released in coordination with the Undertrial Review Board. He further appealed to the High Courts to ensure regular meetings of the UTRC headed by the District Judge concerned during this period so that the maximum number of undertrial prisoners languishing in our jails are recommended for release by August 15, 2022.
Be seen in the context that in as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, the Government of India has already decided to grant special amnesty to the prisoners for whom instructions have already been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.In his concluding remarks, Shri Kiren Rijiju said that access to justice has been recognized as an integral part of our legal framework prescribed by the Constitution of India. And to achieve, realize this vision and build on the work done to date, greater cooperation between legal services bodies and various government ministries and agencies is needed.
