Paper: GS – II, Subject: Polity, Topic: Judiciary and Tribunals, Issue: Strengthening legal aid systems.
Context:
Legal services institutions in India were established under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, to provide free legal aid to nearly 80% of the population. Only 15.50 lakh people received aid (Apr 2023–Mar 2024) vs 12.14 lakh the previous year a 28% increase, but still far below the ideal target.
Key Highlights:
Challenges in Legal Aid Delivery:
- Limited Reach and Presence: Aid services are mainly tied to local courts, prisons, juvenile boards, and district-level front offices. There is also shortage of financial and human resources
- Disparities: In rural/remote areas, village-level legal aid clinics exist, but only 1 clinic for every 163 villages (India Justice Report 2025).
- Shrinking Para-Legal Volunteer Base:
- Para-legal volunteers dropped by nearly 38% (2019–2024) from 5.7 to 3.1 per lakh population.
- States like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh had <1 volunteer per lakh.
- In 2023-24, of 53,000 registered volunteers, only 14,000 were active.
- Inadequate Budget Allocation
- Legal aid budget is <1% of total justice spending including police, prisons, judiciary.
- Despite an increase in budget from ₹601 crore (2017–18) to ₹1,086 crore (2022–23) per capita legal aid spending remains low at ₹3 -₹7. States like Kerala (₹16), Haryana (₹16) spent more; Bengal (₹2) spent less.
Limitations on Fund Use:
- In 2023, States were barred from using NALSA funds for hiring staff, vehicles, food distribution, tree plantation, etc.
- Funds now limited to 50% on Legal aid & advice, 25% on Outreach & awareness and 25% on ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) & mediation
Low Honorarium for Volunteers: Honorarium levels below minimum wage with only Kerala paid ₹750/day. In 22 states, ₹500/day or less. In 3 states (Gujarat, Meghalaya, Mizoram) it is ₹250/day.
Measures to Improve Access:
- Legal Aid Defence Counsel (LADC) Scheme: Started by NALSA in 2022, based on public defender model.It aims to provide dedicated legal aid to undertrials & accused and reduce burden on existing lawyers.
- Increase manpower and improve honorarium for para-legal workers.
- Enhance state-level funding and accountability mechanisms.
- Ensure better use of existing resources and address issues of systemic delays, quality of representation and public awareness & trust
Conclusion:
Without a stronger and better-funded legal aid system the promise of equal access to justice remains unfulfilled.The vision under Article 39A of the Constitution (Free Legal Aid) is undermined.
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/boost-the-capacity-of-legal-aid-systems/article69874191.ece
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