NEWS – Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court nominated as the Executive Chairperson of the National Legal Services Authority

NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (NALSA)

• Statutory body
• Established to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of society, ensuring that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen due to economic or other disabilities
• Formed under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
• Chief Justice of India is the patron-in-chief of NALSA, while the second senior most judge of the Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman
• Free legal services include: Payment of court fees in connection with any legal proceedings + Providing the service of lawyers in legal proceedings + Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other documents + Preparation of appeal, paper book
• Persons eligible for free legal services includes: Women and children + Members of SC/ST + Industrial workmen + Victims of mass disasters, violence, flood, drought, earthquake, and industrial disaster + Disabled + Persons in custody + Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 1 lakh (in the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit is Rs. 5,00,000) + Victims of trafficking in human beings or beggars