The Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court and Patron-in-chief of Nagaland State Legal Services Authority, Justice Vijay Bishnoi today inaugurated Legal Services Clinic at Kohima Science College, Jotsoma.
Delivering an address, he called for concerted efforts of stakeholders and a holistic approach to empower people to enjoy fruit of the schemes which they are entitled to while keeping in mind that every region has certain specific socio-cultural issues, which may vary from region to region.
He said the focus should not be limited to making people aware of various schemes of NALSA, welfare schemes as well as various laws, but concerted effort should be made by all stakeholders to empower people so that they could actually enjoy the fruits of the schemes which they are entitled of. “Hence, a holistic approach needs to be adopted which includes both awareness and which empowerment,” he pointed out.
Justice Bishnoi opined that without adequate legal awareness among the masses, the goal of equal access to justice cannot be a reality.
“Equal access to justice for all even to the last man standing in the queue, is the foundation for a robust administration of justice,” he underscored.
Speaking of NSLSA, the judge informed that Nagaland State Legal Services Authority was established on 1st March, 1999.
“Since then, it has been in the forefront in the relentless quest for spreading legal awareness and Legal Aid, through various schemes, meant for the protection and enforcement of tribal rights, legal services to the victims of trafficking, commercial exploitation, disasters, and drug abuse, legal services to senior citizens, children in need of care and protection among other,” he said.
The Chief Judge also maintained that for successful implementation of awareness programmes, it needs to be kept in mind that every region has certain specific socio-cultural issues, which may vary from region to region.
In this regard, in Nagaland, he urged the stakeholders to put more focus on spreading awareness of those schemes which are relevant to the State of Nagaland. In the same way, he pointed out that the basic aim for organising legal aid clinics or legal awareness camps is to make people aware of various existing laws, their Constitutional and statutory rights and how they can benefit from various beneficiary schemes and from the legal system. Justice Bishnoi said that it is also our resolve that no one Should be deprived of the access to justice or to the benefits of various laws and schemes due to any economic disadvantage for which a provision for Legal Aid is there for the needy and weaker section of our society.
Justice Bishnoi commended NSLSA for taking up various schemes which are relevant to the State of Nagaland according to the social and cultural realities, and that it will continue to render free and competent legal services to all who are in need of legal aid.
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He encouraged the students and staff of the college to avail legal booklets and pamphlets on various legal issues and other beneficial schemes.
Justice Manish Choudhury, Judge, Gauhati High Court while delivering a short speech opined that access to justice still remains a major challenge though equality before law and equal projection of law is guaranteed to every citizen in India.
He said the greatest barriers to access to justice are lack of legal awareness; and inaccessibility to justice system with the primary reason to be absence of support services at the community level across the country, more particularly, in less developed regions, remote corners, areas having geographical barriers, etc.
“It was felt that numbers of Legal Services Institutions were not sufficient enough to cater legal aid to the common people including the people from the disadvantageous category and areas as they did not have grassroots networks for community overreaching,” the justice noted.
Speaking of information provided by the Minister of State, Law in the Parliament in a written reply on 26 July, 2024, Justice Choudhury noted that only 47 Legal Services Clinics were found functioning in 2023-2024 in the North-East Region, and they provided legal assistance to only 615 nos. of persons. The figure was much worse for the year 2024-2025 as assistance was provided to only 156 persons with 45 functioning LSCs.
Nationally, 11,384 Legal Services Clinics were functioning in the country during the year 2023- 2024 and these Legal Services Clinics provided legal assistance to 10,35,040 persons. For the year 2024-2025, as per data available up to May, 2024, 11,574 Legal Services Clinics were functioning in the entire country and these Legal Services Clinics were able to provide legal assistance to 1,97,119 nos. of persons. The judge expressed how setting up of more Legal Services Clinic in this part of the country is the need of hour so as to penetrate into more areas to create awareness among the citizens about the rights, benefits and facilities available.
“The North-East Region including the State of Nagaland, has more barriers and bottlenecks be it geographical, economic or social than the other parts of the country,” he said.
The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Temjenwabang, Principal, Kohima Science College, Jotsoma and Apila Sangtam, Retainer Lawyer, NSLSA chaired the programme. The programme was also attended by Y Kikheto Sema, Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Law and Justice, K.N Balgopal, Advocate General Nagaland, NSLSA Member Secretary, Neiko Akami, NJS and judges, registrar of Gauhati High court and judicial officers.
