District Legal Services Authority

District Legal Services Authority

News: PM addressed the inaugural session of the 1st DLSA meet. The meeting will deliberate on the creation of an integrated procedure in order to bring homogeneity and synchronisation across DLSAs.

About:
• DLSA has been established to provide free legal aid, organize Lok Adalat, legal literacy for the poor.
• It is established under Legal Services Authorities Act (LSA) 1987.
• District Legal Services Authority is constituted in every District to implement Legal Aid Programmes and Schemes in the District.
• There are 676 DLSA in India headed by a District judge who acts as a chairman of the authority.
• Through DLSAs and State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs), various legal aid and awareness programmes are implemented by NALSA.
• The DLSAs also contribute towards reducing the burden on courts by regulating the Lok Adalats conducted by NALSA.

What else can the DLSA do?
• As noted by the Prime Minister himself, he raised concerns over the issue of sensitivity towards undertrial prisoners. He said that the District Legal Services Authorities can take up the responsibility of providing legal aid to such prisoners. He also appealed to the District Judges, as Chairpersons of undertrial review committees, to expedite the release of undertrial prisoners.