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NAT25National/LawLok Adalats to settle 250,000 cases in Punjab, HaryanaChandigarh, Oct 12 IANS Special 'Lok Adalats' public courts to be held for two days in December this year across Punjab, Haryana and the union territory of Chandigarh are targeting to dispose off over 250,000 cases pending under the jurisdiction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court here, an official said.The first-ever mega Lok Adalats, which have been christened 'Samadhan-2008', will be held at several places in both states Dec 20 and 21.The initiative for the mega disposal of cases has come from the new Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, who joined this High Court in August this year.Hundreds of judges and law officers under the jurisdiction of the High Court are working over time to make the mega Lok Adalats a success. Even trainee judicial officers in both the states have been engaged by the High Court to help in sorting out pending cases in various categories.The High Court has a pendency of over 260,000 law cases - some of them dating back to 1950s."Officials from both states and Chandigarh should cooperate for the disposal of maximum number of cases at this event. Departments concerned should coordinate with legal services authorities and make maximum people aware about these," Justice Thakur told a meeting of judicial officers and officials of both states here last week.The Punjab state legal services authority PSLSA officials said that the special campaign was aimed at disposing off pending civil and compoundable cases.Various cases would be taken up during the mega Lok Adalats for on the spot settlement, said Punjab's chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh.Cases under Punjab Tenancy Act, Land Revenue Act, Punjab Village Common Land Acts, Public Premises Ejectment Act, Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, Revenue cases, partition and mutation proceedings, Land Acquisition Act and compensation disputes, Cooperative Societies Act and recovery proceedings, Election petitions and matters pending before the executive authorities under various relevant laws relating to urban and rural local bodies, Excise and Taxation cases, cases under Electricity Act and Motor Vehicles Accident claims would be taken up at the mega Lok Adalats.The Punjab and the Haryana governments have issued directions to officials of all departments concerned to list pending cases category-wise so that these can be disposed off.The Punjab chief secretary urged litigants and their counsels for full participation and cooperation during the mega Lok Adalats so that their cases could be settled on the spot and justice could be delivered at the earliest. "The total number of litigants and counsels at various places will run into thousands on both days of the mega event," a law officer at the high court said here.Haryana last year had become the first state in the country to have a mobile court in a remote and backward area in the Jhajjar district of the state. Punjab followed with its first mobile court in Talwara area of Hoshiarpur district a few months later.--Indo-Asian News Servicejs/rd/dg528 Words12101632