Context: Recently, the Chhattisgarh High Court and the State Legal Services Authority organized the country’s first ever E-Lok Adalat on Saturday (July 11), amid the restricted judicial functioning owing to Covid-19 outbreak.
Key Points

• The Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court P.R. Ramachandra Menon inaugurated the first State Level E-Lok Adalat of India from the Conference Hall of the Chhattisgarh State’s High Court in Bilaspur district.  The E-Lok Adalat was conducted through video conferencing.
• The E-Lok Adalat was conducted in 195 benches across the state of Chhattisgarh. A total of 3133 cases were placed before the 195 benches out which 848 cases were attended by 24 benches from the capital city of Chhattisgarh Raipur.

Additional Facts

• Lok Adalat: It is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, it is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at the pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably.
• Statutory status: Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Under the Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law.