In another step towards providing legal consultancy and conciliation advice to the people, Govt has decided to set up Legal Assistance Cell (LAC) at gram panchayat level.
The main objective of the move is to provide legal reconciliatory advices to the people and to reduce the number of litigations in the courts.
Chief Secretary Sri Aditya Prasad Padhi has advised the Law department to expedite the process. It has been targeted to put the system in place by July, 2016.
Departmental sources say, this system will be implemented under the joint aegis of Law and Panchayati Raj Departments. The Panchayati Raj department will provide the basic infrastructure and logistics at Panchayat level for establishment of the cell.
The Law department will select suitable advocates for the cell. It has also been decided that the advocate engaged for each LAC will be paid a fee of Rs.500/- per sitting. He will provide the legal advice to the people free of cost.
Principal Secretary Law Sri Bibhu Prasad Routray said that the cell will sit once a week in each Panchayat. The Panchayats will be provided separate contingency for the purpose.
In the meanwhile, Panchayati Raj department has already taken up the administrative operations for fictionalization of the cells. It has been decided that the cell will be accommodated in Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras preferably on Friday or Saturday.
Budget estimate to the tune of around Rs.30.5 lakhs has been done for meeting the expenses towards furniture, fees and contingency for the year 2016-17.