Lok Adalat has no authority to dismiss pending complaint: Allahabad HC

Thu, 09 October 2025

22:38

The Allahabad high court has ruled that a Lok Adalat has no authority to dismiss a pending complaint for want of prosecution or for non-appearance of a party.

The high court further said that in a case before Lok Adalat where no compromise or settlement is arrived at, then it must return the case to the court concerned.

Allowing the petition filed by a person named Rajeev Jain, Justice Anish Kumar Gupta said a Lok Adalat can't take up the matter in its own motion without obtaining the consent of the parties and without any intimation to the complainant.

The court quashed the order passed by a Lok Adalat on December 9, 2017 dismissing a cheque-bounce complaint for non-appearance of the complainant.

It also remitted the matter to the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Etah to decide the case in accordance with law from the stage it was referred to and dismissed in Lok Adalat.

The high court in its order dated October 6 observed, "The instant case is the gravest example of such irresponsible and unauthorized action on the part of the judicial officer concerned while taking up the matter in Lok Adalat." -- PTI

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