National Lok Adalat: Judge walks to auto-rickshaw for listening to elderly woman's plea

Udupi: The National Lok Adalat held here on Saturday witnessed a rare incident where a court judge approached an elderly woman who was unable to reach the courtroom and listen to her plea while she sat on an autorickshaw. The actions of a judge during the National Lok Adalat held here have gotten high praise.

The elderly woman, Devaki Shedthi (81), had come to the court to find an end to the original plea dating back to 2011. She had given a GPA to her daughter Jayanti. As she could not climb the stairs of the court, Devaki sat in the auto-rickshaw.

During the proceedings, the GPA had to be verified. However, as Devaki could not come to the court premises, civil judge of the fourth additional court Justice Jeetu R S, accompanied by member secretary of district legal services authority Sharmila S, compromisers lawyer Mitesh Shetty and lawyers of both parties walked to the autorickshaw and verified the veracity of the GPA.

Once the GPA was verified, resolved the issue through video conferencing with the other party living in Mumbai.

National Lok Adalat was held at various courts of Udupi, Karkala, and Kundapur on June 25 as per the directive of Karnataka state legal services authority. As many as 30,773 cases were resolved in a single day of the Lok Adalat, which is an alternate dispute resolution mechanism.