JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

New Delhi - 110025

FACULTY OF LAW
Assignment Topic:
The Importance of Free Legal Aid in Ensuring Access to Justice

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. RASHEED CA SIR
FACULTY OF LAW
SUBMITTED BY:
TASLEEM FATIMA
B.A.LL.B. (S/F) 4th Sem
STUDENT ID: 202202629
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION......................................................03

2. CONCEPT OF LEGAL AID …...............................03

3. EVOLUTION OF LEGAL AID IN INDIA …........04

4. SIGNIFICANCE OF LEGAL AID ….....................05

5. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND CASES...06

6. CONCLUSION............................................................09

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................10
 INTRODUCTION
Legal aid is a government program that helps people who cannot afford it by giving them advice,
counsel, and representation. The Indian Constitution recognizes the right to free legal
representation as a fundamental human right. This subset of legal services is governed by the
National Legal Services Authority. It provides assistance to people from lower socioeconomic
strata of society who meet the requirements of Section 12 of the Legal Services Authority Act of
1987. For the weak, uneducated, and impoverished to have access to legal counsel, the rule of
law is essential. If low-income, illiterate people are not provided with legal representation, they
will be denied access to justice. In this assignment, we shall be looking at the significance and
evolution of legal aid services in India.

THE CONCEPT OF LEGAL AID

In the context of a case or legal action before a court of law, tribunal, or other authority, legal aid
refers to the provision of free legal assistance to the underprivileged and disadvantaged who
cannot afford a lawyer. The method adopted is to ensure that no one is denied access to
knowledgeable counsel and assistance due to a lack of financing and is known as legal aid. In
order to ensure that the weaker, oppressed, and people from poorer segments of society have
access to justice.

In this regard Justice P.N. Bhagwati rightly observed that: 1

‘The legal aid means providing an arrangement in the society so that the missionary of
administration of justice becomes easily accessible and is not out of reach of those who have to
resort to it for enforcement of its given to them by law, the poor and illiterate should be able to
approach the courts and their ignorance and poverty should not be an impediment in the way of
their obtaining justice from the courts. Legal aid should be available to the poor and illiterate,
who don't have access to courts. One need not be a litigant to seek aid by means of legal aid.’

The constitution of India states in Article 39A 2

1 Dr. G Mallikarjun “Legal Aid in India and the Judicial contribution” NALSAR Law Review, Vol 7 No.1 235 (2013)
available at http://www.commonlii.org/in/journals/NALSARLawRw/2013/13.pdf ( Last Visited on April 1, 2023).

2 The Constitution of India.

“It is the duty of the State to see that the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal
opportunity for all its citizens. It must therefore arrange to provide free legal aid to those who
cannot access justice due to economic and other disabilities.”

EVOLUTION OF LEGAL AID IN INDIA

The concept of legal aid evolved to provide legal assistance to those who are financially unable
to bear the court expenses in order for them to be heard by the court of law. This was done in
order to meet the ends of justice and to fulfil the commitments made to the citizens of India by
the Constitution to provide Social and Economic Justice, Equal Opportunity to be represented
before the court, and Equality before the law.
There are two phases of evolution of legal aid in India, one is pre-independence phase and other
is the post-independence phase.

In the British era, there was the concept of giving legal representation to the poor accused during
the judicial processes. After the Charter Act of 1833 and the establishment of the Institute of
Law Commission in 1834, the spirit found formal forms throughout the codification process in
British India (Law Commission of India, Fourteenth Report, Vol. I, 1958). The Criminal
Procedure Code of 1878 was created in 1878, and under its section 340, the accused was given a
certain advantage by conceding his right to hire a pleader at his own expense to represent him in
court. However, the poor and needy accused in instances solely involving the death penalty were
eligible for legal aid at the state's expense under the Criminal Rules of Practise of the High
Court. History records that in 1924, at Bombay, a legal aid society was registered as an outcome
of the community efforts of some enlightened, philanthropic lawyers to provide free legal
services to the poor. On acceptance of the recommendations of the Rushcliffe Committee, the
British Parliament passed the LEGAL AID AND ADVICE ACT 1949.3

After the Independence, The Indian government began addressing the issue of legal aid for the
underprivileged in several conferences of law ministers and Law Commissions in 1952. The
government created some regulations for legal aid programmes in 1960. Legal aid boards,
groups, and law departments were used to promote legal aid programmes in many states.

3 Concept of Legal Aid and Constitutional mandate available at http://law.uok.edu.in/Files/5ce6c765-c013-446c-

b6ac-b9de496f8751/Custom/Legal%20Aid%20April%202020.pdf (last visited on April 15, 2023).
• A national committee was established in 1980 to manage and monitor legal aid schemes all
across the nation. Justice P.N. Bhagwati, who was a Supreme Court judge at the time, served as
the group's head. This group, which later adopted the name CILAS (Committee for
Implementing Legal Aid Schemes), began keeping an eye on legal aid initiatives around the
nation.

• The establishment of Lok Adalats opened a new chapter in the administration of justice and
was successful in giving litigants a second place for amicable resolution of their issues. The
Legal Services Authorities Act was passed in 1987 in order to provide legal aid systems with a
similar legislative framework across the nation. After the Amendment Act of 1994 introduced a
few revisions, this Act went into effect in 1995.4

SIGNIFICANCE OF LEGAL AID

India is a developed country that has accepted the concept of a welfare state. As a result, it must
aim to advance public welfare. The state must enact just laws and provide equal opportunities for
everyone to succeed in order to establish a just social order. Every government is established
with the intention of eradicating social injustices and meeting the needs and ambitions of the
people. This promotes social justice for the poor and destitute. Because of a variety of factors,
such as corruption, deprivation, ignorance of one's own rights, and illiteracy, the disadvantaged
groups still endure the severe disparities that plague their lives. As a result, they are ignorant and
invisible to the formal legal system. Everybody's rights are protected by the legal system that
was established by the Indian Constitution. Moreover, the role of the judiciary is to protect the
Fundamental Rights of the people and not to destroy the rights of the people.5
According to the Preamble of the constitution, the people of India have given themselves a
constitution that ensures social, economic, and political justice for all of its citizens, as well as
liberty of expression, belief, faith, and worship; equality of status and opportunity; and to
promote among them all fraternity while upholding each person's dignity as well as the nation's

4 The development of Legal Aid movement in India available at https://www.manoramayearbook.in/india/special-

articles/2020/12/18/explainer-legal-services-in-india.html#:~:text=In%20different%20states%2C%20legal
%20aid,boards%2C%20societies%20and%20law%20departments.&text=In%201980%2C%20a%20committee
%20at,Judge%20of%20the%20Supreme%20Court. (last visited on April 13, 2023).
Genesis of Legal Aid in India available at https://viamediationcentre.org/readnews/NDQw/Genesis-of-Legal-Aid-in-
India ( last visited on April 13, 2023).
5 Chander, Shailja, v.l Krishna lyer on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles, 1992.
unity and integrity. The Constitution's Article 39A 6states that the the state shall secure that the
operation of a legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity and shall, in
particular, provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure
that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen of economic and other
disabilities. The government offers the poor free legal assistance in order to accomplish the goal
of fair justice for everyone. Legal assistance refers to providing free legal services to the
underprivileged and disadvantaged who cannot afford a lawyer to represent them in a case or
legal procedure before a court, tribunal or other authority. However, it becomes exceedingly
challenging to offer everyone free legal help in a country with a population of more than a billion
people.

Legal aid strives to ensure that the poor, oppressed, and weaker members of society have equal
access to justice and that the constitutional guarantee is upheld in letter and spirit. Legal aid
programmes are widely available and constantly growing. Legal aid programmes are created
everywhere the rule of law is in place or is being established because they are an essential
component of it. Legal aid refers to the provision of free legal representation to underprivileged
individuals in any court, tribunal, or other authority proceedings. Its goal is to provide those in
need who are unable to exercise their legal rights with free legal assistance.7

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND CASES

The Constitution of India provides mandate to legal aid through various provisions and also the
Supreme Court, through various cases has resolved and interpreted about the Right to Free Legal
Aid, this philosophy of Free legal Service was embodied and given a shape of constitutional
obligation in Art. 39-A of the Constitution of India. Article 39-A 8 reads: "The State shall secure
that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and shall,
in particular provide, for Legal Aid, by suitable legislations or schemes or in any other way, to
ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic

6 The Constitution of India.

7 Mishra, Taru & BBD, Janmejay. (2022). "IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL AID IN THE WAY OF JUSTICE IN INDIA" available
at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362908883_IMPORTANCE_OF_LEGAL_AID_IN_THE_WAY_OF_JUSTICE_
IN_INDIA (last visited on April 14, 2023).
8 The Constitution of India.
or other disabilities." In other words, the Directive Principles make it obligatory for the State to
provide Free Legal Aid to needy and indigent people so that justice is not denied to them merely
because of poverty.9

Ar. 38 (1)10 The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting
as effectively, as it may, a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall
inform all the institution of the national life.

(2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimize the inequalities in income and endeavor to
eliminate inequalities in status, feasibilities and opportunities, not only among individuals but
also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations.11

The State is further obligated by Articles 14 and 22(1) to guarantee equality before the law and a
legal system that upholds justice by giving everyone equal opportunities. Legal aid works to
guarantee that the Constitution's promises are kept in letter and spirit and that the weaker,
impoverished, and downtrodden segments of society have equal access to justice. Legal aid is
implied in Article 142 when read in conjunction with Articles 21 and 39A, which designates
counsel for such an imprisoned "individual" in order to carry out full justice.

There are many International Conventions that have mentioned the right to be legally represented
and to be heard before the court of and they are as follows:

● Article 14(2) and 14(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 19661

● Article 11(1) of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

● Article 6 of The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and

Fundamental Freedoms, 195012

9 Concept of Legal Aid and Constitutional mandate available at http://law.uok.edu.in/Files/5ce6c765-c013-446c-
b6ac-b9de496f8751/Custom/Legal%20Aid%20April%202020.pdf (last visited on April 15, 2023).

10 The Constitution of India.

11 ., Neha & Jain, Pardeep. (2017). REVAMPING LEGAL AID SERVICES IN INDIA. International Journal of Human
Resource Management and Research. 7. 45-48. Available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348621674_REVAMPING_LEGAL_AID_SERVICES_IN_INDIA (last visited
on April 14, 2023).
12 CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LEGAL AID IN INDIA available at https://www.probono-india.in/Indian-
Society/Paper/35_CONSTITUTIONAL%20PROVISIONS%20FOR%20LEGAL%20AID%20-%20Silky%20Mukherjee.pdf
National Legal Services Authorities (NALSA) is the apex body which has been constituted under
the legal services authorities act, 1987 to provide free legal aid to the weaker section of the
society. The edifice of NALSA is based upon the cornerstones of public awareness, equal
opportunity and deliverable justice.

The hon’ble Supreme court in the case of Hussainara Khatoon13 in this case the court pointed
out that Article 39-A emphasized that free legal service was an inalienable element of
̳reasonable, fair and just‘ procedure and that the right to free legal services was implicit in the
guarantee of Article 21.

In Khatri v. State of Bihar14, It held that the state is constitutionally bound to provide such aid
not only at the stage of trial but also when they are first produced before the magistrate or
remanded from time to time and that such a right cannot be denied on the ground of financial
constraints or administrative inability or that the accused did not ask for it.

In Suk Das v. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh 15 Justice Bhagwati emphasized on for
the legal awareness for the poor to make them exhaust their constitutional remedy.

Justice Krishna Iyer, who is crusader of social justice in India, had rightly said that ̳if a prisoner
sentenced to imprisonment is virtually unable to exercise his constitutional and statutory right of
appeal inclusive of special leave to the Supreme Court for want of legal assistance, there is
implicit in the Court under Article 142 read with Articles 21 and 39-A of the Constitution, the
power to assign counsel for such imprisoned individual ̳for doing complete justice‘16.

CONCLUSION

It is true that India is still a developing country and the fruit bearers of this development are only
the upper-class halves of the society. The poor who are the foundation of the society are left with

(last visited on April 16, 2023).

13 Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, (1980) 1 SCC 98.
14 AIR 1981 SC 262.
15 AIR 1986 SC 991.
16 M.H. Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra (1978) 3 SCC 81.
nothing but injustice which is definitely not in favor of the country. Neglecting and ignoring the
major part of the society does not contribute to the development of the country. A lot of wrongs
are being done against these people because of their poor knowledge regarding their rights to
protest against the wrong doers. Non-awareness of indigent regarding the provisions and rights
available to them is of great concern which may lead to infringement of their rights. The
initiative taken by the government of India in the form of legal services authorities helps these
destitute to be aware of their rights by providing them free and competent legal services through
legal aid clinics, lok adalats and by conducting awareness camps throughout the country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

STATUTES
 ● The constitution of India

● National Legal Services Authorities Act

JOURNALS

● International Journal of Human Resource Management and Research

● International Journal of Law Management and Humanities

● Journal of the Indian Law Institute

● SAGE Journals

● WorldWide Journals

● NALSAR Law Review

● Bharati Law Review

WEBSITES

● www.researchgate.net

● www.legalservicesindia.com

● www.dhyeyaias.com

● www.probono-india.in
● www.manoramayearbook.in

● www.legallyindia.com

● www.viamediationcentre.org

● www.lexlife.wordpress.com