The Legal Services Authorities Act of 1987, Section 22-B.

In order to provide a mandatory pre-

litigative framework for the conciliation and resolution of matters connected to Public Utility
Services like transportation, postal service, telegraph, etc., Permanent Lok Adalats have been
established as permanent bodies with a chairman and two members. In this case, even if the
parties are unable to come to an agreement, the Permanent Lok Adalat will have jurisdiction to
rule on the disagreement as long as it is not related to a criminal offence. The Permanent Lok
Adalat's decision is also final and enforceable against all parties.

The Permanent Lok Adalats have authority over sums up to one crore rupees. In this scenario,
the Permanent Lok Adalat has the authority to determine the matter if the parties are unable to
come to an agreement. The Permanent Lok Adalat's decision is final and enforceable against the
parties. The Lok Adalat is free to conduct the proceedings as it sees fit, taking into consideration
the specifics of the case, the parties' desires (such as those for oral statements, a prompt
resolution of disputes, etc.), and other relevant factors.

The Legal Services Act of 1987 grants the Permanent Lok Adalats adjudicatory powers, and as a
result, the Permanent Lok Adalats are empowered to decide a dispute on the merits. Justices DY
Chandrachud and PS Narasimha's bench ruled that the LSA Act's Section 22-C conciliation
procedures are mandatory in nature.

In Premium Acres Infrastructure vs Permanent Lok Adalat

It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to set up Permanent
Lok Adalats for providing compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for conciliation and settlement
of cases relating to public utility services. (3) The salient features of proposed legislation are as 6
of 22 follows:

(i) to provide for the establishment of Permanent Lok Adalats which shall consist of
a Chairman who is or has been a District Judge or Additional District Judge or has
held judicial officer higher in rank than that of the District Judge and two other
persons having adequate experience in public utility services;

(ii) the Permanent Lok Adalat shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of one or more
public utility services such as transport services of passengers or goods by air, road
and water, postal, telegraph or telephone services, supply of power, light or water to
the public by any establishment, public conservancy or sanitation, services in
hospitals or dispensaries, and insurance services;

(iii) the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be up to rupees ten
lakhs. However, the Central Government may increase the said pecuniary
 jurisdiction from time to time. It shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter
relating to an offence not compoundable under any law;

(iv) it also provides that before the dispute is brought before any court, any party to
the dispute may make an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat for settlement of
the dispute;

(v) where it appears to the Permanent Lok Adalat that 7 of 22 there exist elements of
a settlement, which may be acceptable to the parties, it shall formulate the terms of a
possible settlement and submit them to the parties for their observations and in case
the parties reach an agreement, the Permanent Lok Adalat shall pass an award in
terms thereof. In case parties to the dispute fail to reach an agreement, the
Permanent Lok Adalat shall decide the dispute on merits; and

(vi) every award made by the Permanent Lok Adalat shall be final and binding
on all the parties thereto and shall be by a majority of the persons constituting
the Permanent Lok Adalat."

In Shriram General Insurance Co vs Suresh Kumar And Another

The Supreme Court recently in the case of Bar Council of India v. Union of India 2012 (8) SCC
243 has considered the scope and object of Section 22-C of the Legal Services Authorities Act,
1987. In paragraph 22 it is observed as under:-

"It is necessary to bear in mind that the disputes relating to public utility services have been
entrusted to Permanent Lok Adalats only if the process of conciliation and settlement fails. The
emphasis is on settlement in respect of disputes concerning public utility services through the
medium of Permanent Lok Adalat. It is for this reason that Subsection (1) of Section 22-C states
in no unambiguous terms that any party to a dispute may before the dispute is brought before any
court make an application to the Permanent Lok Adalat for settlement of dispute.

Therefore, the key issue is the resolution of the parties' disagreements on the provision of public
utility services. However, if the Permanent Lok Adalat's efforts and attempts do not result in the
parties' disagreement being resolved and the parties need to have their dispute decided and
adjudicated, to avoid delays. In order to resolve disputes involving public utility services, the
Parliament intervened and granted the Permanent Lok Adalat adjudication authority.

Hence an understanding can be formed that the decisions or orders passed by the
permanent lok adalats is on a merit basis and is only applicable to the parties
aforementioned in the dispute even in the event of a public utility service.