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Legal Aid & Social Awareness Society

RMLNLU, Lucknow

  1. Access to justice is the biggest and most intrinsic problem faced by India today. Poverty, ignorance and inaccessibility to justice of vast majority of poor, downtrodden, neglected and exploited class poses a great threat to the very foundation of our constitution i.e. the goal of achieving a society based on the concept of justice. As an answer to these grievances, the students of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University established the Legal Aid and Social Awareness Society.
  1. The committee set in the spirit of Article 39 A of the constitution was inaugurated by Justice Dr. Arijit Pasayat, Judge Supreme Court of India and Chairman of the SCLSC on 21st Feb, 09. Since then we never looked back. Today when we look back there is quite a good list of work which we have done and are proud of that fact.
  1. Legal Aid Committee- The Legal Aid Committee is a student body in the University that imparts legal aid and undertakes social awareness program under its aegis. The Committee inducts students to use their knowledge of law to provide free legal aid to those who are most in need of it through various media. The Legal Aid functions that the Committee performs are preventive, remedial, activist and reformative.
  2. 1st Anniversary Celebration of the Establishment of the Legal Aid Clinic- The Legal Aid Committee of the university celebrated the 1st Anniversary of establishment of the Legal Aid Clinic on September 3, 2016. Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.R. Masoodi, Judge, Allhabad High Court was the Chief Guest of the function. The Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Gurdip Singh welcomed the Chief Guest. In his address, Justice Masoodi exhorted the students and teachers to engage themselves in clinical legal education for better understanding of law and legal processes. The Vice Chancellor expressed happiness and satisfaction that the Legal Aid Clinic of the university, situated right at the entrance of the university has been able to make its presence felt in a short span of one years. On this occasion, the annual Newsletter of the Legal Aid Clinic (2015-2016) was also released by the dignitaries.


  1. The Committee after its reconstitution had undertaken unprecedented tasks and brought them to a successful execution.


Intra for NLU-D HSF International Negotiation Competition (June 2015).

  1. The Committee organised a student selection round in June 2015, specifically for indentifying the eligible team for representing our University in the 2nd NLU-D HSF International Negotiation Competition, 2015. The Intra had to be organised during the University vacations as the dates of the Competition coincided with the declared vacations. A total of 8 student teams registered for the Intra. The Committee had requested the students to submit Negotiation Plans based on the General Information released by the organising university. The Negotiation Plans submitted by the participating by the teams were then evaluated by the University Alumni who were provided with a bench negotiation plan prepared by the Committee and an evaluation sheet. The team selected through the intra has already participated in the aforementioned event.
  1. Blood Donation Camp (18th – 19th Aug 2015) A Blood donation camp was organized by the Legal Aid Committee (LAC) in collaboration with Blood Connect on 18-19 August 2015 from 11AM to 5PM. The camp was inaugurated by Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor Professor (Dr) Gurdip Singh, saw participation of over 300 students from the University. On 18th August 2015, RMLNLU saw a team of doctors from SGPGI with volunteers from Blood Connect sharp at 11 AM park their bus in front of the Academic Block. The first day was chaotic at best with people flocking in to get their Hemoglobin (Hb level) checked. Several gasps could be heard when one’s Hb was clocked at 18.7, the person involved was ecstatic, doctors curious at the abnormality. More than 150 overzealous candidates for donation registered themselves which led to the extension of the camp for another day. It was a fun day.
  1. The festivity of sorts was extended to 19th August, when people queued up to donate blood at 11 AM missing their classes. This time, makeshift couches from bus were shifted to the Legal Aid Committee room. There was an active participation from the student body, faculty and office staff of the University. A lot of people were first time donors and were afraid but after they donated blood they wondered why they ever hesitated.It was explained that to meet the blood needs of the community, regular blood donors are needed, since there is no substitute for human blood.
  1. The blood donated will be used by SGPGI, Lucknow to save lives of over 670 people. The samples were carefully sealed and transported away, while the LAC members and hospital staff helped in cleaning of the area. The day was full of smiles and laughter, people seemed happier as they came out after giving blood. The donors received a certificate of recognition. They will also get a credit card where one unit of blood is available free from Govt. Blood Bank in next one year.

  1. Legal Aid Mela (12th – 13th Sep 2015)- ‘Justice at the doorstep’ has developed as new dimension of Article 39A of the constitution. Taking it quite literally, the committee organized a two day Legal Aid Mela in the village of Behta on 12th and 13th September 2015.
  1. The village which is 15 Kilometers away from the university, is a just like any other small village of our nation. The 30 member strong team and the volunteers from First and Second Years contributed heavily to the successful organization of the mela.

    The mela undertook following missions-
  1. Awareness- Looking at the low level of legal literacy among citizens of our country, the committee has always laid special emphasis on creating legal awareness. The committee members went to around 150 homes of village telling people about their right on various issues like right to information, how to file an FIR, women rights, child rights etc.
  1. Further. The realization that the slogans of new government schemes hardly reach to these villages, the committee created a data base of around 70 state and centre government schemes and made people aware about what documents are required, which authority should be approached etc. to avail benefits of schemes. We worked on demand and supply model. After identifying the need of the person, we suggested him to apply for a particular scheme.

  1. Survey- The committee in the long run aims to adopt a village and make it litigation free. To achieve this aim, 160 houses of the village were taken as sample survey population. The basic questions like- Is there a dispute pending? If yes, then what is its nature?, Are they facing violation of any legal right on which they want to file suit?, Whether the person is eligible for legal aid under sec. 12 of NALSA? We also inquired whether they have required identity cards to avail benefits of government schemes, for example- Adhaar, Job card, Ration Card etc.
    The Legal Aid Desk- A desk was set-up by the committee to provide legal aid and advice to the villagers. Around 60 cases came at the help desk –

Nature of Matter

Total Number

Expert advice on Government schemes

20

Land Dispute

9

Matrimonial Dispute

4

Non-receipt of Rupees 1800/- Pension provided by government to senior citizens

8

Adhaar Card Related Issues( Adhaar card not received/ wrong address on Adhaar etc. )

7

Other

12
  1. The Mela was a very new experience for the villagers because the idea of conducting a legal aid camp on the lines of mela is still an under-explored idea. The happiness on faces of villagers after knowing their rights concerning basic day-to-day problems made all our painworth bearing.

  1. Clineme 1.0 (14th – 20th Sep 2015)- The Legal Aid Committee organized the first edition of an ADR Tournament this year and named it as Clineme 1.0. This event included three ADR Competitions, namely Client Counseling, Negotiation and Mediation and it was a one week affair i.e from 14th - 20th September 2015. In order to acquaint the students with what these competitions are like, the Committee had also organized an orientation and separate workshops for each competition. There were more than 200 students from the first year to the fifth year who had participated in this event as teams and clients, and the fifth years were the judges for these competitions. In order to publicize this event, the committee had released posters and had also made a page on Facebook for Clineme 1.0. During the event, everyday, the judges were provided with snacks and either tea or coffee and water bottles too. From Monday to Saturday we had preliminary rounds and quarter finals for the three competitions and on Sunday, we had the Grand Finale for all the three competitions together. The winning team of each competition was awarded with a Trophy and certificates. The event proved to be a major success and became one of the biggest speaking events in the history of the University

  1. Legal Aid Clinic- The Legal Aid Committee on 4th August, 2015 successfully put into operation a Legal Aid Clinic. The Legal Aid Clinic is intended to provide legal relief easily accessible to the indigent and backward sections of our society. It works almost on the lines of primary health centres where a doctor and other auxiliary medical staff provide basic health care to the people. Like the doctors rendering health services to the people of the locality in the primary health centre, a legally aware individual manning the legal aid clinic provides legal services to the people. The thrust is on the basic legal services like legal advice and assisting in drafting of notices, replies, applications, petitions etc.
  1. The Legal Aid Clinic is set up right outside the university main gate (next to guards rooms). It is open for 2 hours every day (from 6 PM to 8 PM) and works for six days in a week. The Clinic was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rakesh Tiwari, Senior Judge, Allahabad High Court. The Clinic is manned by final year students and Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) selected through Para Legal Volunteers Training Session.
  1. As of now more than 20 cases have been reported at the Legal Aid Clinic, these cases cover diverse areas like labour law, property law, family law etc. The Legal Aid Committee in pursuance of these registered cases have successfully resolved one case where the certain workers were not provided with their wages.
  1. Para Legal Volunteer Training Sessions (21st Sep – 5th Oct 2015): In order to augment the services rendered at the Legal Aid Clinic and to involve a large portion of the student body in working of the legal aid clinic the Legal Aid Committee organised training sessions for students. These sessions were conducted on the lines of training session conducted by the National Legal Service Authority/State Legal Service Authority. These sessions were presided over by faculty members and final year students. The closing session of the PLV Training Session was presided by Secretary, UPSLSA Mr Tej Pratap Tiwari.

Though the list of the actions taken by the committee is very long but it can be summed up in following paragraphs-

  1. The Legal Aid Camps- Aiding the unaided being one of the main aims of the committee, from time to time legal aid camps in association with State Legal Service Authority, are conducted. The camp provide legal assistance to those people who have been deprived of justice due to their financial constraints. Recent one was at Banthara where at least 300 people were benefited through the legal-aid and social awareness. The biggest legal aid camp organised by us was at Maha Kumbh, Prayag 2013. In rare combination of religion with law at least 1000 cases were solved.

 

  • Right to Information Drive- Right to Information is a milestone for progress and strengthening participatory democracy in India. More than a law RTI is a tool, a concept of removal of secrecy, a cultural approach to life. Considering importance of RTI awareness is constantly running in which students at colleges and schools are explained about the RTI. Till now many RTIs have been filed by the members of the committee to take further the cause of accountability in governance.

  1. Mediation Competition- Today India is in dire need of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Mechanism to clear off the large number of cases pending. To develop the mediation qualities amongst law students 1st RMLNLU National Mediation Competition was organised by the committee from 13th Jan. 2012- 15th Jan 2012 which witnessed a large participation of students from all across the India. The committee keep on organising these competitions at university level.
  1. Awareness Initiative- The committee not just aim at legal aid, social awareness is very much part of our preamble. Hence the committee run many awareness drives to bring the change whose time has come. In the same series awareness drive about women rights was run in which Nukkad Natak were performed on the streets of Lucknow to raise the voice.

 

  1. Collaborations- In a yet another mission of social upliftment the committee is associating with various NGOs and NPOs. It will take our commitment to the next level.

  1. Interactive Sessions- A famous quote says that nothing is more powerful than the idea whose time has come. To inspire the young legal minds to come with creative ideas and work for the nation, the committee organises interactive sessions with eminent lawyers, judges, bureaucrats and social activists. Recent session was with Mr. Ashok Arora, who is an eminent author, human right activist, advocate, and former secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association whose style motivated us to go out and bring the change which we want to see.