Legal Aid & Awareness in India : Issues & Challenges

Essay Submitted to:-

2ndDr. A P J Abdul Kalam National Legal Essay Competition - 2017

Organized by

ProBono India

In Association With

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(An Initiative of Vision of Tomorrow Charitable Trust, NGO)
Essay Submitted by:-

NAME –NITISH KUMAR NAVEEN

DESIGNATION-STUDENT

AFFLIATION-University Of Petroleum And Energy Studies

ADDRESS-UPES KANDOLI, DEHRADUN, UTTRAKAHAND

MOB-7319870730

E-MAIL:nitishnavin16@gmail.com
 The concept of seeking justice cannot be equated with the value of dollars. Money plays no role in
seeking justice.”

-Justice Blackmun

INTRODUCTION

Legal Aid means legal assistance, free of cost to the poor and needy, to those who do not
have the resources to engage a lawyer to represent them in legal proceedings in a Court or
before any other Tribunal. It implies offering legal help to those entangled in some legal
issues. The insurmountable numbers of legislations necessitate legal aid for an individual to
ensure he is acting within the sphere of laws. Article 39A puts stress upon legal justice, the
directive requires the state to provide free legal aid to deserving people so that justice is not
denied to any one merely because of economic disability. The Supreme Court has
emphasized that legal assistance to a poor or indigent accused who is arrested and put in
jeopardy of his life or personal liberty is a constitutional imperative mandated not only by
Art. 39A but also by Arts.14 and 21.In the absence of legal assistance, injustice may result.
Every act of injustice corrodes the foundations of democracy1. Free Legal Aid to the poor and
the helpless is necessary for the preservation of ‘Rule of Law’, which is necessary for the
existence of the orderly society. Until and unless the poor is not legally assisted, they will be
denied, the equality in the opportunity to seek Justice. Therefore, as a step towards making
the legal service for the poor and the deprived, the Judiciary has taken active interest in
providing free Legal Aid to the needy of late.

The Indian Constitution provides for a self-governing and unbiased Judiciary and the Courts
are given the powers to protect the Constitution and safeguard the rights of people regardless
their social status. Since the motive of the Constitution is to provide “Justice to all” and the
Directive principles are integrally, a part of it. The Constitution decrees to the Judiciary, that
it has the “Duty to Protect Rights of the Poor”. The Judiciary, through its significant judicial
interventions is guaranteed as well as guided the legislature to come up with the suitable
Legislations to bring justice to the doorsteps of the weakest sections of the society. 2 The
Supreme Court while understanding the concern of the poor whose life and liberty may be
jeopardised when they are arrested and have no means of securing justice, has reiterated the
significance attached to free Legal Aid not only in terms of 39A but also with respect to
Article 14 and Article 213. Article 14 provides for equality before law and equal protection of
laws 4 . To ensure that there is equality, parties to a legal case must have equality of
opportunities in accessing the Courts and defending their case. It has been that to fulfil the
ideal of equal justice as envisaged by Article 39A, the concept of Legal Aid as described
under article 21 should also be dealt with meaningfully.

1
M P Jain Indian Constitutional Law/Volume 2 6th Edition
2
Dr. G. Mallikarjun, LEGAL AID IN INDIA AND JUDICIAL CONTRIBUTION(Jan. 05, 2017, 12:55 PM)
http://www.commonlii.org/in/journals/NALSARLawRw/2013/13.pdf.
3
2, M.P. JAIN, INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW1616, (5th ed. 2003).
4
THE CONSTITUION OF INDIA, 1950 Article 14.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The earliest legal Aid movement appears to be of the year 1851 when some enactment was
introduced in France for providing legal assistance to the indigent. In Britain, the history of
the organised efforts on the part of the State to provide legal services to the poor and needy
dates back to 1944, when Lord Chancellor, Viscount Simon appointed Rushcliffe Committee
to enquire about the facilities existing in England and Wales for giving legal advice to the
poor and to make recommendations as appear to be desirable for ensuring that persons in
need of legal advice are provided the same by the State. Legal aid has a close relationship
with the welfare state and the provision of legal aid by a state is influenced by attitudes
towards welfare. Legal aid is a welfare provision by the state to people who could otherwise
not afford access to the legal system. Legal aid also helps to ensure that providing people
entitled to welfare provisions, such as social housing, with access to legal advice and the
courts, enforces welfare provisions. Historically legal aid has played a strong role in ensuring
respect for economic, social and cultural rights which are engaged in relation to social
security, housing, social care, health and education service provision, which may be provided
publicly or privately, as well as employment law and anti-discrimination legislation. Jurists
such as Mauro Cappelletti argue that legal aid is essential in providing individuals with
access to justice, by allowing the individual legal enforcement of economic, social and
cultural rights. His views developed in the second half of the 20th Century, when
democracies with capitalist economies established liberal welfare states that focused on the
individual. States established themselves as contractors and service providers within a market
based philosophy that emphasised the citizen as consumer. This led to an emphasis on
individual enforcement to achieve the realisation of rights for all. The contribution of justice
Krishna Iyer towards the development and incorporation of the concept of legal aid in the
Indian legal system has been tremendous. His report titled Processionals justice to poor’ has
gone a step further in enabling the recognition of the poor for the purpose of giving legal aid.
In a report on Free Legal Aid in 1971, Justice Bhagwati observed " even while retaining the
adversary system, some changes may be effected whereby the judge is given greater
participatory role in the trail so as to place poor, as far as possible, on a footing of equality
with the rich in the administration of justice. A similar report of the Committee on Legal Aid
titled "processionals justice to poor" presided over by Krishna Iyer in 1973, dealt with the
nexus between law and poverty, and spoke of PIL in this context. It emphasized the need for
active and widespread legal aid system that enabled law to reach the people, rather than
requiring people to reach the law.5

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It also emphasized on having legal aid programmes and that the organization for effectuating
the legal service programme must be responsive to the poor in giving legal service and must
not be mechanical and wooden in its approach. Even after, such a programme is introduced
there must be a continues examination of its utility and its responsiveness to the poor.

The report also in detail stated the constitution and the working of different legal committees:

a) The Taluka Legal aid Committee.- It was recommended that there shall be a Taluka Legal
Aid Committee in every Taluka having a court of Civil Judge (Junior Division) or Judicial
magistrate, It shall have power to deal with the applications for legal aid in proceedings
before the taluka court as also before the Tenancy Tribunal situated within the taluka.
The presiding Judge or Magistrate should be the ex-officio member and Chairman and the
other members of the Committee shall be
(i) the President of the Taluka Bar Association ex-officio or a senior lawyer practicing in the
Taluka court,
(ii) one other lawyer practicing in the Taluka Court
(iii) one retired Judge or Magistrate, if available, and
(iv) one and if no retired Judge of or Magistrate is available, two social workers or public
spirited citizens. The members of the Taluka Legal Aid Committee would work in honorary
capacity and they would ordinarily hold office for a period of three years. Its accounts were
also to be audited annually by the Government auditor along with the audit of the accounts of
the Taluka Court. The Secretary of the Taluka Legal Aid Committee was to be appointed
with the prior approval of the District Legal Aid Committee.

(b) The District Legal aid Committee, - The same provisions was applicable mutatis mutandis
in respect of the District Legal Committee. Apart from the District Judge and the president of
the District Bar Association, one more lawyer, a retired Judge or Magistrate or two social
workers, the other members of the Committee was to be the Government Pleader of the
District Court ex-officio, the President of the District Panchayat ex-officio and the Principal
or a teacher of law college selected by the district judge.

(c) The State Legal Aid Committee. - It was to be at the apex of the entire Legal Aid
Organization and was suggested to be a High power Body composed of different social
interests dedicated to the cause of administration of legal aid. It was to have as its Chairman
the Chief Justice or a High Court Judge nominated by him. The other members of the
Committee constituted of the Advocate General, President of the High Court Bar Association
or the Vice-President, Chairman of State Bar Councilor the Vice-Chairman, one senior
member of the High Court Bar, three members of the mofussil Bar, one District Government
Pleader, District Judges of Rajkot, Baroda and Surat, Secretary, Legal Department and
Finance Secretary of the State Government, two members of the State Legislative Assembly,
Director of Backward Classes, four social workers and a teacher of law. This Committee was
to have mainly supervisory functions and lay down policies and principles for the
administration of the Legal Aid Scheme. There was to be a State Director of Legal Aid
responsible for the actual administration of the Legal Aid Programme within the State and
was to be the Chief Executive Officer of the State Legal Aid Committee. The Committee was
to exercise control over all the Legal Aid Committee in the State, and similarly the Taluka
Legal Aid Committees shall be under the control and supervision of the District Legal Aid
Committee.6

PRESENT SCENARIO

The Constitution of India under Article 39-A mandates for free legal aid to the poor and
weaker sections of society. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, as amended by the Act
of 1994, which came into force on 9th November 1995, aims at establishing a nation-wide
network for providing free and comprehensive legal services to the weaker sections. It makes
it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system, which promotes
justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to ensure that constitutional
pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor,
downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.With the object of providing free legal aid,
the Government of India had, by a resolution dated 26th September 1980 appointed a
committee known as Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS) under the
chairmanship of Chief. Justice P.N. Bhagwati to monitor and implement legal aid programs
on a uniform basis in all the states and union Territories. ‘CILAS’ evolved a model scheme
for legal aid programs applicable throughout the country by which several legal aid and
advice Boards were set up in the states and union territories. Legal aid is an essential part of
the administration of Justice. Access to Justice for all is the motto of the Authority. The goal
is to secure justice to the weaker sections of the society, particularly to the poor,
downtrodden, socially backward, women, children, handicapped etc. but steps are needed to
be taken to ensure that nobody is deprived of an opportunity to seek justice merely for want
of funds or lack of knowledge. The National Legal Services Authority is a statutory body
which has been set up for implementing and monitoring legal aid programs in the country.

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The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee has also been constituted under the Act. In
every High Court also, The High Court Legal Services Committees are being established to
provide free legal aid to the eligible persons in legal matters coming before the High Courts.
The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 also provides for constitution of the State Legal
Services Committees, High Court Legal Services Committees, District Legal Services
Committees and Taluk Legal Services Committees. According to Section 2(1) (a) of the Act,
legal aid can be provided to a person for a 'case' which includes a suit or any proceeding
before a court. Section 2(1) (a) defines the 'court' as a civil, criminal or revenue court and
includes any tribunal or any other authority constituted under any law for the time being in
force, to exercise judicial or quasi-judicial functions. As per Section 2(1)(c) 'legal service'
includes the rendering of any service in the conduct of any case or other legal proceeding
before any court or other authority or tribunal and the giving of advice on any legal matter.
Under The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 every citizen whose annual income does not
exceed Rs 9,000 is eligible for free legal aid in cases before subordinate courts and high
courts. In cases before the Supreme Court, the limit is Rs 12,000. The state governments can
increase this limit. Limitation as to the income does not apply in the case of persons
belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women, children, handicapped, etc7.

In every state a State Legal Services Authority is constituted to give effect to the policies and
directions of the Central Authority (NALSA) and to give legal services to the people and
conduct Lok Adalats in the State. State Legal Services Authority is headed by the Chief
Justice of the State High Court who is its Patron-in-Chief. A serving or retired Judge of the
High Court is nominated as its Executive Chairman.

District Legal Services Authority is constituted in every District to implement Legal Aid
Programmes and Schemes in the District. The District Judge of the District is its ex-officio
Chairman.

Taluk Legal Services Committees are also constituted for each of the Taluk or Mandal or for
group of Taluk or Mandals to coordinate the activities of legal services in the Taluk and to
organise Lok Adalats. Every Taluk Legal Services Committee is headed by a senior Civil
Judge operating within the jurisdiction of the Committee who is its ex-officio Chairman.

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Two cases are crucial to understanding the development of free legal aid in India.

Hussainara Khatoon vs. State of Bihar8:

A writ of habeas corpus petition was brought on behalf of the shockingly large number of
men, women, and children, who were detained in jail in the State of Bihar for years awaiting
trial for minor offences, which, even if proven, would not have warranted punishment for
more than a few months, or perhaps for a year or two. Despite this, they were deprived of
their freedom for periods ranging from three to ten years without even as much as a trial date.
The Supreme Court issued a clarion call to the government:

We may also take this opportunity of impressing upon the Government of India as also the
State Governments, the urgent necessity of introducing a dynamic and comprehensive legal
service program with a view to reaching justice to the common man. Today, unfortunately, in
our country the poor are priced out of the judicial system with the result that they are losing
faith in the capacity of our legal system to bring about changes in their life conditions and to
deliver justice to them. The poor in their contact with the legal system have always been on
the wrong side of the law. They have always come across law for the poor rather than law of
the poor. The law is regarded by them as something mysterious and forbidding-always taking
something away from them and not as a positive and constructive social device for changing
the socio-economic order and improving their life conditions by conferring rights and
benefits on them. The result is that the legal system has lost its credibility for the weaker
sections of the community. It is, therefore, necessary that we should inject equal justice into
legality and that can be done only by dynamic and activist scheme of legal services.

Khatri(II) v. State of Bihar9:

Two prisoners lost their eyesight as a result of police torture while in custody. The Court
directed the Registrar of the Supreme Court to conduct an enquiry with respect to the torture.
He determined that legal representation was not provided to the prisoners because neither
requested counsel when they were brought before the magistrate initially or on remand. The
Court directed that unless the accused is not willing to take advantage of free legal services
provided by the state, he must be provided legal representation at the cost of state.10

8
(1980) 1 SCC 98
9
(1981) 1 SCC 623
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https://indialawnews.org
ISSUE UNDER LEGAL AID

People are still not aware of their basic rights due to which the legal aid movement has not
achieved its goal yet. It is the absence of legal awareness which leads to exploitation and
deprivation of rights and benefits of the poor. Thus it is the need of the hour that the poor
illiterate people should be imparted with legal knowledge and should be educated on their
basic rights which should be done from the grass root level of the country.The poor people,
who are not that fit socially and economically do not know about their legal rights and the
legal procedures to solve disputes. They either just give up on their rights or end up solving
them on the streets or to worsen the situation, they use their muscle power. This kills the legal
system of the country and the citizens lose faith in the administration of the law of the
country.

Thus legal aid to the poor and weak person is compulsory for the preservation of the rule of
law which is necessary for the existence of the society. The poor and the unaware people
being kept in the dark and not given justice are equal to the law and rights being unfair to all
the citizens. As per the Legal Services Authority Act, anyone who fits into the following
criteria is entitled to free legal aid.

 A member of the scheduled class or tribes.

 A poor person- one whose annual income is not more than 50000 for cases in the
Supreme Court and 25000 for other courts.
 A victim of human trafficking or a beggar.
 Mentally or physically disabled people.
 A woman or a child.
 A victim of any disaster or unwanted accident.
 An industrial workman.
 One in custody, including protective custody.
 A person facing a charge which may result in imprisonment.
 Anyone who is not able to hire a lawyer for reasons like poverty.

Even today, there are many people who suffer injustice just because they are unaware of their
rights. It is not only in the rural parts of the country but also in the urban. There are many
educated people who are either too last to start the legal procedures or are simply unaware of
their legal rights and thus suffer. In some cases, the fault lies on the individual who doesn’t
take up any action even after knowing his legal rights and how he can be rewarded justice but
in some cases, there are people who are totally unaware of their legal rights. They have no
idea that there are rules framed in their country for every injustice or violence of their rights.
These are the people who are in real need of awakening and need to be enlightened. Thus the
need of the hour is that we need to focus on effective and proper implementation of the laws
which we already possess instead of passing new legislations to make legal aid in the country
a reality instead of just a myth in the minds of the countrymen11.

Despite such flexibility and mechanisms in place, the underfunded legal aid only receives
hollow support. The issue, though fortified by the provisions for the benefit of indigent
litigants, is only bolstered with insubstantial legal services. This may be the resultant of
inattention that is faced by the bar which is rarely incentivised for providing the much-needed
legal support. Because legal aid counsels and panellists are remunerated insufficiently, the
standard of legal aid service never receives its well-deserved attention and assistance. This in
fact worsens in the lower courts. In reality, the legal aid fees that a lawyer merits would be
impossible to make a decent living. Those who do take work and accept it for meagre
remittances are the young and inexperienced ones. The entire system of justice delivery is
therefore, eschewed of its benefits when there is missing deployment of meaningful legal
services.

The onerous responsibility of a lawyer to provide free legal assistance to indigent applicants
cannot be overlooked in light of the right to access courts and due process. Therefore, while
importance ought to be assigned to applicants approaching the court, one cannot forego the
other side of the coin i.e. the assistance. Since lawyers play a key role in conducting judicial
proceedings, from preparing briefs to presenting arguments, any oversight of this inseparable
relationship of the legal community and lawyers can cripple the entire system of justice. This
is when we bring in the concept of quid pro quo which could become a legally accepted way
of providing rightful remuneration to committed advocates in lieu of the services provided by
them to their litigants.

For instance, the Supreme Court has adopted the stance and allowed the levy of additional
court fee in respect of appeals and revisions to appellate authorities (other than civil and
criminal courts). The Court not only gave legal sanction to the additional court fee which was
in fact meant for a Legal Benefit Fund operated under the Kerala Legal Benefit Fund Rules,
1991, but also observed that this fund would essentially provide efficient legal services for
the people. Since the purpose of the fund was to be utilised for providing competent legal
services, this amounted to quid pro quo. The additional court fee was perceived to be levied
for an effective, efficient and robust legal assistance. Moreover, it had direct nexus to the

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laudable objective sought to be achieved in the context of services available to the public at
large seeking redressal before the courts.12

CHALLENGES UNDER LEGAL AID

INADEQUACIES OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM

The legal aid system in India has largely proven ineffective. There are four main reasons why
the National Legal Services Authorities has not been able to deliver real legal aid: (1) there is
a general lack of awareness of the availability of legal aid; (2) there is a perception that free
service is incompatible with quality service; (3) there are not enough lawyers delivered by the
legal services authorities, and; (4) lawyers generally are uninterested in providing competent
legal assistance because of financial constraints. So, in spite of the fact that free legal aid has
been held to be a necessary adjunct of the rule of law, the legal aid movement has not
achieved its goal. Moreover, too often lawyers assigned to provide legal aid and paid with
public funds do not faithfully represent their clients, casting serious doubt on the credibility
of the scheme of legal aid provided to weaker sections of society. Some lawyers engaged by
legal aid committees hold their clients’ cases for ransom by employing delay tactics. These
lawyers compel their clients, many innocent, to pay additional amounts of money to them,
even though they are supposed to obtain their fee from the legal aid committee. One factor
that may be contributing to this is that the remuneration paid to lawyers by the legal aid
committee is very low and sometimes does not even meet the lawyer’s incidental expenses.
Another major obstacle to the legal aid movement in India is that the delivery system for
legal aid is far too inefficient. More lawyers must be encouraged to delivery free legal aid and
a campaign should be launched to inform people about the existence of free legal aid. The
legal aid movement cannot achieve its goal so long as people are not aware of their basic
rights. When the poor are not aware of their legal rights, they are subject to exploitation and
ultimately deprived of the rights and benefits provided to them under law. Thus, the key to a
successful free legal aid system is increased awareness among the populace and more
efficient delivery processes.13

THE AMERICAN AND FRENCH LEGAL AID SYSTEMS

The legal aid systems in the United States and France are ideal models for the legal aid
movement. In France, the earliest form of legal aid was provided in 1851 when legislation

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was passed providing for legal assistance to the poor. In the United States, free legal aid in
criminal cases was introduced with the landmark decision of the United States Supreme
Court in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963). A public defender is a lawyer,
employed by the government, to represent those who are charged with a crime and cannot
afford to pay an attorney. Public defenders work in an office of the public defender. This
office is an agency of the government and its employees work for the state or the county. The
Office of the Federal Public Defender operates under the authority of the Criminal Justice Act
of 1964, 18 U.S.C. §3006A. It provides defense services in federal criminal cases to
individuals who are financially unable to obtain adequate representation. A person’s
eligibility for defender services is determined by the federal court. Public defender agencies
are supported by public funding but are independent. Thus, they do not take direction from
the government regarding representation of clients or hiring of staff attorneys. Federal public
defender offices are well-funded. By law, lawyers employed by federal public defender
offices have salaries that match those of lawyers in the federal prosecutor’s offices. The
combination of salary, benefits, and support teams tends to attract, and more importantly,
retain highly qualified attorneys. The French legal system is based on civil law. Thus, laws
are written into a collection and codified, not determined by judges as in common law
jurisdictions. France has developed its own system of legal aid services. Legal aid in France
is offered through the “avocat commis d office,” or court appointed lawyers. This advocate is
the equivalent of the public defender in the United States, but is not affiliated with an agency.
The function of “avocat commis d office” is different from other advocates because of his
nomination rules, his role in the proceedings, and the clients he will defend. His role consists
of representing every person who requests services without regard to the person’s ability to
pay for his services. If an individual is unable to pay the advocate, the advocate will assist the
client in seeking free legal aid or reduced fee legal aid proportional to the client’s salary. In
that case, the advocate may be paid by the state. The current legal aid scheme (which
replaced the older one dating from legislation of 1972) is governed by the Legal Aid Act (No
91-647 of 10 July 1991) and Decree No 91-1266 of 18 December 1991. Legal aid entitles the
recipient to free assistance from an advocate or other legal practitioner (bailiff, avoué, notary,
auctioneer, etc.) and exemption from payment of court costs. A useful first port of call for
anyone wanting legal aid is the “Maison de Justice,” usually attached to the local Tribunal
d’Instance. When free legal aid is obtained, advocates are paid by their Tribunal d’ Instance,
which is funded directly by the State.Any person tried criminally may obtain the counsel of
an advocate at any time during the proceedings irrespective of his/her income. Article 6 of the
Human Rights European Convention says that “every accused has the right to defend himself
or to be helped by the advocate he chose and, if he cannot pay this advocate, he can obtain a
free assistance.” As a result, in most criminal cases, an advocate is automatically provided to
the accused, while in India, the number of lawyers provided by legal aid authorities is not
enough to satisfy the large number of detainees awaiting trial.14

SUGGESTIONS

There is the need of the hour that the poor illiterate people should be imparted with legal
knowledge and should be educated on their basic rights which should be done from the grass
root level of the country. For that judiciary needs the support from state administration to
conduct legal literacy programme. The judiciary should focus more on Legal Aid because it
is essential in this present scenario where gulf between haves and have-nots is increasing day
by day. And elimination of social and structural discrimination against the poor will be
achieved when free Legal Aid is used as an important tool in bringing about distributive
justice. There are number of precedents as well as legislations to up hold the right to free
legal aid but they have just proven to be a myth for the masses due to their ineffective
implementation. Thus the need of the hour is that one should need to focus on effective and
proper implementation of the laws which are already in place instead of passing new
legislations to make legal aid in the country a reality instead of just a myth in the minds of the
countrymen. In providing Legal Aid, the Legal Aid institutions at all level should use proper
ADR methods so as to speed up the process of compromise between parties to the case and
with that matter will be settled without further appeal. Free Legal Services Authorities must
be provided with sufficient funds by the State because no one should be deprived of
professional advice and advice due to lack of funds15.

Today, there are many law schools in India which are doing their part of their duty towards
the nation. Being law institutions, their responsibility increases manifold. However, the
research has not given the optimum satisfaction after knowing how seriously the law schools
are performing in providing legal help to the society. Though the policies and guidelines have
been laid down well, the required participation was not felt in all the law schools. Some of
the major problems which are being faced by the institutions can be summed up as follows:

Lack of participation of the students

The students are failing to take up the responsibility and the initiative to work for the good
cause of providing legal help to the ones who are in need of it. The students are unaware of
the events happening in their universities and even if they are aware, in some universities,
they are not allowed to participate much into the legal aid cell. The institutions, knowing the
importance of the legal aid cells should play a great role in motivating their students. This
motivation lacks in many law schools. Lack of appropriate funds, disinterest in guiding the
students and helping the students when required is a major problem in some institutions.

Lack of importance given to the concept of legal aid cells

Legal aid is very important for the development of a nation. The legal institutions can play a
great role in helping the ones who need legal help. However, they fail to realize the change
they can bring in the society. These are some basic problems, which if dealt with care and
responsibility can easily be removed from the legal schools. They don’t need much effort

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but just a willing mindset which would take up initiatives to work for the society. Where
problems exist, there definitely are some solutions which if followed correctly may bring out
a better society in which every individual will be given justice and will be aware of the legal
rights. Some of the solutions given could be:

Another new idea which may help in the better functioning of the legal aid cells is that if all
the national law schools work together in a single legal aid clinic in which the participation of
the institutions will be mandatory by the CLAT committee, there will be a great change in the
approach to the legal aid in India. This will enhance the participation of the institutions as the
cell will under the CLAT committee and the fever of competition against the students of
other law schools will increase the activities of the cell, thus benefiting the nation as more
and more activities will take place on a regular basis. This will help attaining the goals of the
legal aid cells increasing the efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, these are the basic
solutions to the basic problems as to why some of the legal aid cells in the legal schools of
India are not functioning up to the satisfaction level. If taken into consideration, these
solutions may help in the development of the legal aid cells in our country. It will increase the
access to the legal systems in India by the poor and the unaware citizens who are not even
aware of their rights.16

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CONCLUSION

Legal aid is not a charity or bounty, but is an obligation of the state and right of the citizens.
The prime object of the state should be equal justice for all‖. Thus, legal aid strives to ensure
that the constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made
available to the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society. But in spite of the fact that
free legal aid has been held to be necessary adjunct of the rule of law the legal aid movement
has not achieved its goal. There is a wide gap between the goals set and met. The major
obstacle to the legal aid movement in India is the lack of legal awareness. People are still not
aware of their basic rights due to which he legal aid movement has not achieved its goal yet.
It is the absence of awareness which leads to exploitation and deprivation of rights and
benefits of the poor.

Thus we can find a paradigm shift in the approach of the Supreme Court towards the concept
of legal aid from a duty of the accused to ask for a lawyer to a fundamental right of an
accused to seek free legal aid. But in spite of the fact that free legal aid has been held to be
necessary adjunct of the rule of law, the legal aid movement has not achieved its goal. There
is a wide gap between the goals set and met. The major obstacle to the legal aid movement in
India is the lack of legal awareness. People are still not aware of their basic rights due to
which the legal aid movement has not achieved its goal yet. It is the absence of legal
awareness which leads to exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits of the poor. Thus
it is the need of the hour that the poor illiterate people should be imparted with legal
knowledge and should be educated on their basic rights which should be done from the grass
root level of the country. Because if the poor persons fail to enforce their rights etc. because
of poverty, etc. they may lose faith in the administration of justice and instead of knocking
the door of law and Courts to seek justice, they may try to settle their disputes on the streets
or to protect their rights through muscle power and in such condition there will be anarchy
and complete dearth of the rule of law. Thus legal aid to the poor and weak person is
necessary for the preservation of rule of law which is necessary for the existence of the
orderly society. Until and unless poor illiterate man is not legally assisted, he is denied
equality in the opportunity to seek justice.17

17
http://las-letsgettalking.blogspot.in
References

1. www.legalserviceindia.com

2. www.lawyrs.net

3. www.legalserviceindia.com

4. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/laid.htm

5. nalsa.gov.in/

6.http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0
CEQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Flawcommissionofindia.nic.in%2Freports%2F189th%252
0Report%2520on%2520Revison%2520of%2520Court%2520fee.pdf&ei=k-
djUfnpLcLmrAe464HIBQ&usg=AFQjCNEueSr4qUzUl8f9IMSpEQQ16BWfGQ&sig2=A3
UdXbwPdi8vnLypM6x7EQ&bvm=bv.44990110,d.bmk.

7. http://www.expertlawyer.in/legal-aid-in-india.aspx

8. http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Free-Legal-Aid-5166.asp#.UWpqLLVaZSg/

9. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/laid.htm/

10. http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Free-Legal-Aid-5166.asp#.UWpqLLVaZSg/

11. http://legalaidinindia.weebly.com/chapter-ii.html/

12. http://www.goforthelaw.com/articles/fromlawstu/article20.htm

13. http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Free-Legal-Aid 5166.asp#.UWPj_4JMZsk

14. http://advfazalabdali.blogspot.in/

15. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/laid.htm

16. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/42445543/India-Law-Commission-paper

17. http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1122133/

18. http://las-letsgettalking.blogspot.in