Section 25 in The Maharashtra State legal Aid and Advice Scheme, 1979
25. Disposal of applications.
(1)On receipt of an application under clause 24, the Member-Secretary or a lawyer on the Panel of Legal Practitioners, who is assigned the particular duty, shall scrutinise the application for the purpose of deciding whether the applicant is deserving of legal aid in accordance with the provisions of this Scheme and for the purpose of arriving at such decision he may require the applicant to supply further information as may be necessary and also discuss the matter personally with the applicant and in doing so he shall have regard to the fact that the applicant belongs to a weaker section of the community and is required to be assisted even in the matter of obtaining legal aid. The application shall be processed as early as possible and preferably within fifteen days.(2)The decision of the Member-Secretary or the lawyer on the Panel of Legal Practitioners, who scrutinizes the application as provided in sub clause (1) above, to give legal aid shall be final, subject to confirmation by the Committee at its next meeting. If the Member-Secretary or the lawyer concerned is of the opinion that the applicant is not deserving of legal aid, he shall place the matter before the Committee whose decision shall be final.(3)Where it is decided not to give Legal aid to an applicant, the reasons for not doing so shall be entered in the Register of Applications maintained by the Committee and information in writing to that effect shall be communicated to the applicant.(4)Before giving actual legal aid, the matter shall be referred by the Member-Secretary to the Conciliation Cell for the purpose of bringing about settlement between the parties. If for any reason not connected with the intransigence or obduracy of the applicant, the settlement cannot be arrived at, the Conciliation Cell shall make a failure report to the Member-Secretary and the Member-Secretary shall then assign the case to a lawyer out of the Panel of Legal Practitioners approved by the Committee. While assigning the case to a lawyer, the Member-Secretary shall have regard to the nature of the case, the experience of the lawyer and also the willingness and capacity of the lawyer to handle the matter and as far as possible the case may be assigned to the lawyer on the Panel by rotation.(5)No application for legal aid or advice shall be granted, or continued after the legal aid is granted, if the Committee is satisfied that -(a)the applicant has knowingly made false statement or furnished false information as regards his means or place of residence; or(b)in a proceeding, other than the one relating to criminal prosecution; there is no prima facie case to institute, or as the case may be, to defend the proceeding; or(c)the application is frivolous or fictitious; or(d)the applicant is not entitled to the same under clause 23 or any other provision of this Scheme; or(e)having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it is otherwise not reasonable to grant it.
