Kerala High Court
Baisil Attipety @ Basil.A.G vs The State Of Kerala on 20 October, 2011
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HON'BLE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE MRS.MANJULA CHELLUR
&
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.M.SHAFFIQUE
WEDNESDAY, THE 22ND DAY OF AUGUST 2012/31ST SRAVANA 1934
WP(C).No. 29711 of 2011 (S)
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PETITIONER(S):
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BAISIL ATTIPETY @ BASIL.A.G,
ATTIPETY HOUSE,NARAYAMBALAM.P.O,COCHIN:ERNAKULAM
DISTRICT,KERALA:682509.
BY ADV. SRI.A.G.BASIL
RESPONDENT(S):
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1. THE STATE OF KERALA,REPRESENTED BY CHIEF
SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,GOVERNMENT OF KERALA
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
PIN:695001.
2. UNION OF INDIA REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY
TO GOVERNMENT OF INDIA,MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT,NORTH BLOCK,NEW DELHI-110 001.
3. DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT,
REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT OF KERALA,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.
4. DEPARTMNT OF FINANCE,REPRESENTED BY ITS
SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,GOVERNMENT OF KERALA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.
5. DEPARTMENT OF LAW,REPRESENTED BY ITS
SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,GOVERNMENT OF KERALA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.
6. BAR COUNCIL OF KERALA,REPRESENTED BY ITS
SECRETARY,HIGH COURT CAMPUS,COCHIN:682031.
7. KERALA LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY (KELSA),
REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY,NIYAMA SAHAYA BHAVAN
HIGH COURT COMPOUND,COCHIN:682039.
8. THE SECRETARY,KERALA HIGH COURT LEGAL
SERVICE COMMITTEE,HIGH COURT BUILDING
COCHIN:682031.
9. KERALA WOMEN'S COMMISSION,REPRESENTED BY
ITS SECRETARY,PATTOM PALACE,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
PIN-695004.
10. KERALA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION,
REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
PIN-695001.
BY SRI.P.PARAMESWARAN NAIR,ASG OF INDIA
BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION
ON 22-08-2012, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE
FOLLOWING:
WP(C).No. 29711 of 2011 (S)
APPENDIX
PETITIONERS' EXHIBITS
EXT-P1: TRUE COPY OF THE LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY ACT 1987.
EXT-P2:
GOVERNMENTTRUE COPY OF RELEVANT PAGE SHOWN IN KERALA
DIARY.
EXT-P3: THE MAP OF KERALA SHOWN IN THE GOVERNMENT OF
KERALA
DAIRY.
EXT-P4: TRUE COPY OF THE DETAILS OF 978 GRAMA PANCHAYATH.
EXT-P5: TRUE COPY OF THE DETAILS OF THE 14 DEPUTY DIRECTORS
OF
PANCHAYATH AND 14 ASSISTANT DIRECTORS.
EXT-P6: TRUE COPY OF THE DETAILS OF THE DISTRICT LEGAL
AUTHORITIES AND TALUK LEGAL AUTHORITIES SHOWN IN
KERALA
LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITIES (KELSA)ANNUAL BULLETIN
2009.
EXT-P7: TRUE COPY OFBEFORE
PREFERRED THE REPRESENTATION DATED 20.10.2011THE
THE IST RESPONDENT BY
PETITIONER.
EXT-P8: TRUE COPY OF THE DETAILS OF NUMBER OF ADVOCATES
ENROLLED SHOWN IN PAGE NO.493 OF THE BOOK
SUPPLIED
BY THE BAR COUNCIL OF KERALA ON THE ADVOCATE ACT.
EXT-P9: TRUE COPY OF THE FRONT PAGES OF THE BOOK STHREEYUM
NIYAMAVUM AND NIYAMA PADOM.
EXT-P10: TRUE COPY OF THE NOTIFICATION PUBLISHED BY THE LEGAL
SERVICE COMMITTEE OF HIGH COURT.
RESPONDENTS' EXHIBITS
Manjula Chellur,Ag. CJ.,
&
A.M. Shaffique, J.
.................................................
W.P. ( C ) No. 29711 of 2011 (S)
..................................................
Dated: 22-08-2012
JUDGMENT
Manjula Chellur,Ag. CJ., Heard learned counsel for petitioner regarding admission.
2. The present petition is filed in the nature of public interest litigation seeking the following reliefs:-
i) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the Ist respondent to take immediate steps to constitute a Legal Service Authority Committee in the Grama Panchayath level also under the provisions of Legal Service Authority Act.
ii) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing he Ist respondent to provide financial assistance to the Legal Service Aid Committee to be constituted in the Grama Panchayath level in 978 Grama Panchayaths in Kerala.W.P. ( C ) No. 29711 of 2011 (S) -:2:-
iii) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the 2nd respondent Union of India to provide all financial assistance and other infrastructural facilities for the functioning of Legal Service Aid Committee to be constituted in all the Grama Panchayaths in the entire State of Kerala of 978 Grama Panchayaths.
iv) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondents 3 to 6 to provide all aids and assistance to the panchayath Level Legal Service Committee in the entire state of Kerala in 978 Grama Panchayaths.
v) to declare the service of Legal Service Authority's service to a good and simple name to be attracted by the people of Kerala for the access of accepting service from the Legal Service Authority.
vi) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the Ist and 2nd respondent to complete the constitution of the Legal Service Aid Committee in the Grama Panchayath in 978 Panchayaths in a time bound manner as may be fixed by this Hon'ble Court.W.P. ( C ) No. 29711 of 2011 (S) -:3:-
vii) Issue such any other or direction/relief that this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the interest of justice and the mandate of the Constitution of India.
3. The actual relief sought in the above Writ Petition as stated above are formation of Legal Service Aid Committee at grama Panchayath level and give financial assistance to them so as to make the people at the grass- route level to get the benefit of the schemes available under Legal Services Authorities Act.
4. The Legal Services Authority has its committee members at every level i.e. State Level District Level and Taluk Level. Each of these Committees is headed by the senior most judicial officer of respective place. All the activities of Legal Services Authority, right from taluk level to national level are done under the supervision of judicial officer. The execution of day-today activities is also done by a member from the judiciary who is known as Member Secretary. The patron-in- chief of Legal Services Authority at the national level is the senior most Judge of the Apex Court who has his committee members from different parts of the country including two senior Judges of High Court apart from academicians and social workers. Similarly, at the State Level such committees W.P. ( C ) No. 29711 of 2011 (S) -:4:- are formed by the Executive Chairman of the Legal Service Authority under the guidance and leadership of Chief Patron of the particular State. The entire system works as provided in the Act. It is open to any NGO or any organisation as such for that matter to seek assistance from the legal Service Authority provided such project come within the parameters either awareness or legal aid as such.
5. As one of the action plans of National Legal Services Authority is constitution of legal aid clinics which are established at different places with the assistance of para legal volunteers, every Legal Service Authority of the State has trained para legal volunteers who would be manning these legal aid clinics and they would attend to simple matters when public approach them. If it needs legal assistance, they would refer them to the Taluk Legal Service Authority or the District Legal Service Authority depending upon the nature of legal assistance sought by the applicant.
6. This is how the system works catering to the needs of the general public. If any Panchayath is interested to have such assistance, they can always request the Legal Service Authority to have a legal aid clinic sitting at the Panchayath Office twice or thrice in a week and they will be manned by para legal volunteers. This is uniformally adopted in every State of the Country. In that view of the matter, there is no W.P. ( C ) No. 29711 of 2011 (S) -:5:- necessity to create a parallel machinery to do the same work as already done by the Legal Service Authority.
7. Therefore, we are of the opinion, none of the reliefs sought could be granted including the financial assistance to committees at the Panchayath level. Panchayath members already have their respective duties and functions as envisaged under Panchayath Act. They can seek the assistance of legal services authority to enlighten them on their duties and function and how best they could efficiently discharge their duties and functions. As a matter of fact, such awareness programmes are conducted for the newly elected Panchayath Members in every State. Therefore, we are of the opinion, none of the relief sought in the above Writ Petition could be granted in favour of the petitioner. Accordingly, petition is dismissed.
Sd/-Manjula Chellur, Acting Chief Justice.
Sd/-A.M. Shaffique, Judge.
ani.