Minister of Law and Justice to launch the Tele Law Mobile App

CategoryPolity

Last Updated10/11/2021

Amid the country-wide celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Department of Justice kicked-off the week- long “Tele-Law on Wheels” campaign from 8th to 14th November, 2021.
As part of this campaign, a series of activities are being undertaken to empower people through pre-litigation advice for rightfully claiming their entitlements and for timely redressal of their difficulties.
A special Login week is being organized throughout the country for encouraging those in need to seek legal advice and consultation through tele-and video conferencing facilities by urging them to visit their nearest Common Service Centers(CSCs) offering Tele-Law services.
These CSCs have been branded as Kanooni Salah Sahahyak Kendra (कानूनी सलाह सहायक केंद्र”) for this purpose.
The Tele-Law on Wheels Campaign is being conducted with aid of CSC e Governance which has a network of 4lakth + digitally enabled CSCs across the country.

It is a program by the government where people can seek legal advice from lawyers through video conferencing available at the Common Service Centers, on the ‘Tele Law’ portal – a technology-enabled platform.
The legal services would be provided at the Panchayat levels across the country through the Common Service Centers.

As part of this campaign, a series of activities are being undertaken to empower people through pre-litigation advice for rightfully claiming their entitlements and for timely redressal of their difficulties.
A special Login week is being organized throughout the country for encouraging those in need to seek legal advice and consultation through tele-and video conferencing facilities by urging them to visit their nearest Common Service Centers(CSCs) offering Tele-Law services.
These CSCs have been branded as Kanooni Salah Sahahyak Kendra for this purpose.
The Tele-Law on Wheels Campaign is being conducted with aid of CSC e-Governance which has a network of 4 Lakh + digitally enabled CSCs across the country.

The main objective of the Tele-law initiative is to provide a planned delivery of legal advice through a panel of lawyers stationed at the State Legal Services Authorities (SALSA) and CSC.
The project aims to connect citizens with lawyers through video conferencing facilities by the Para-Legal Volunteers stationed at identified 1800 panchayat.

Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for equal justice and free legal aid to all.
The National Legal Services Authority was established for this purpose. Tele-law helps in getting the benefit of Article 39A by providing legal assistance to poor and deprived people for free or at a very low fee.
The main objective of this program is to resolve the cases before the trial.
Thus it gives rise to the concept of preventive justice.
Technology is more used in this program. Therefore, in this program paper, physical access is required. It also benefits the environment.
According to statistics in the Indian judiciary, 58,700 cases are pending in the Supreme Court and about 44 lakhs in the High Courts and about three crore cases are pending in the District and Sessions Courts and Subordinate Courts. The number of these cases can be prevented from increasing by the Tele Law.
Among the main criticisms of the Indian judiciary, it is said that its far-reaching and expensive system negatively affects the concept of justice to all.
The Tele Law protects poor people from the expensive system by providing necessary legal assistance at the beginning of the problem.
The complete details of this program are available on the website, thus it is a transparent program that reinforces the concept of good governance.

Although Tele Law is a successful concept, it has some problems.
In India, lakhs of new cases are presented before the court every year. In this situation, registration of only 423400 cases in 3 years is a demonstration of the low capacity of this program.
Due to lack of awareness, the Indian public is unable to avail of free legal aid.
India lacks legal literacy and digital literacy, which is a hindrance to the success of this program.
Registered lawyers are many times reluctant in guiding and providing legal aid.
The burden of litigation on the Indian judiciary, and the difficult process and expensive system of the judiciary, had left the general public and the underprivileged out of the reach of justice.
Although there are some challenges, this initiative of the Department of Justice of India is a good initiative for "" justice for all"". It is playing an important role in establishing justice in India.

Common Services Centers (CSCs) are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. They are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
They are multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location.
They are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.

CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India.
They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods.
They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.