What is Legal Aid?

Legal aid means all legal expenses of a needy person to be borne by the government authority for filing the petition in court.

In our country, National Legal Services Authority(NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of the society.

Free Legal services include:

• Payment of court fee, process fees and all other charges payable or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings. 
• Providing service of lawyers in legal proceedings. 
• Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and others documents in legal proceedings. 
• Preparation of appeal, paper book including printing and translation of documents in legal proceedings. 

Persons eligible for getting free legal services include:

• Women and children.
•  Members of SC/ST/BC.
•  Industrial workman.
• Transgender.
•  Victims of mass disaster, violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster.
•  Disabled persons.
•  Person in custody.
•  Person whose annual income does not exceed Rs.1 Lakh(in the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit is Rs.1,25,000).
• Victims of Trafficking in Human beings or beggar. 

Functions of NALSA

National Legal Services Authority(NALSA) lays down policies, principles, guidelines and frames effective and economical schemes for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement the legal services Programmes throughout the country. 

In every state, State Legal Services Authorities has been constituted to give effect to the policies and direction of NALSA to give free legal services to the eligible people. The SLSA(State Legal Services Authorities) is headed by hon’ble the Chief Justice of the respective High Court. 

Subordinate Parts of the State Authority(State Legal Services Authorities) are:

• High Court Legal Services Committee.
•  District Legal Services Authorities.
•  Tehsil Legal Services Committee. 

How to apply for free Legal aid in NALSA? 

Any rural and urban eligible person can apply for legal aid by offline and online methods in National Legal Services Authority(NALSA). 

Online Procedure to apply for legal Aid in NALSA.

•  Visit the website of NALSA(National Legal Services Authority).
•  Scroll down the page. Click the option ”Application for Legal Aid”.
• Step by step fill all the details.
•  Select your State Legal Services Authorities(SLSA), if you belong to Uttarakhand then select “Uttarakhand Legal Services Authority”.
•  Select your District.
• Select your Taluka(Taluka is your Tehsil).
•  Select Nature of your Grievance/Application(you can see all the list of Nature of Grievance/Application and select it).
•  Write your full description of grievance.
•  Fill your Address, mobile and email properly for future reference. 
• Follow all the steps, it’s very easy.
•  Upload documents(In support of your grievance in pdf format).
• After successfully submission of your grievance/application, you will get a unique number on your mobile number to track your grievance/application.

 
After a specific time, you can also send reminders to your Grievance/application. If you have any confusion about the word “Grievance”, you can read my previous blog post “What is a Grievance?” 

Offline procedure to apply for Legal Aid in NALSA:

• Visit the website of NALSA(National Legal Services Authority).
•  Scroll down the page.
•  At the last page, SLSA- websites of Legal Services Authorities.
•  Select your State Legal Services Authorities from above lists of websites of State Legal Services Authorities. If you belong to Uttarakhand then select Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority.
•  After visiting website of Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority, click on Legal Aid clinics/clubs. 
• You will find “District wise pdf list of Legal Aid Clinics and clubs. If your district is Almora then click on Almora. Pdf page of Almora will open and you can find your Tehsil(Taluka) on this list. In Tehsil column, you can see the Name and mobile number of concern officer of Legal Aid Clinic. 

You can contact to officer of Legal Aid Clinic on his mobile number for getting legal aid offline procedure.

 
Government makes lot of Policies to benefit the people. But it does not reach the needy people completely due to corruption and lack of information. In this case, you can use Right to Information Act-2005. You can read my previous blog post “what is Right to Information Act-2005?” 

Conclusion:- As a human being, it’s our duty to share this type of post to help the needy people in our social platforms. 

Note:- for future’s new updates, please visit NALSA(National Legal Services Authorities) website time to time.