Jaipur, July  2022.

India’s First AI-powered, end-to-end digital Lok Adalat was launched by Hon’ble Mr. Uday Umesh Lalit, Chairman, National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) during the 18th All India Legal Services Authorities’ Meet held in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The digital Lok Adalat by Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority (RSLSA 22) was designed and developed by its technology partner Jupitice Justice Technologies. The two-day event was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Mr. N V Ramana in the presence of Hon’ble Minister of Law & Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Ashok Gehlot.

India’s growing case pendency has been in headlines in the recent past and especially during the pandemic where the courts came to a standstill for a while. Recently, a district court in Bihar gave a verdict in a land dispute case after 108 years making it one of the oldest pending cases in the country. A NITI Aayog report also suggested that it would take an approx of 324 years to dispose all the current cases in India. Moreover, the report also adds that 75% to 97% of justiciable problems never reach the Courts meaning thereby between 5 million to 40 million never reach to Court per month. This grim situation of the Indian Dispute Resolution landscape calls for an urgent technology intervention.

Speaking at the event, Executive Chairman, Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority, Hon'ble Mr. Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, said, “In a country of 130 crore people where majority of the people are still living in rural area and significant population is marginalized section of the society that poses formidable challenge in providing access to justice for all.”

The world’s first JusTech (Justice Technology) company- Jupitice has been working with various quasi-judicial bodies and ADR centres across India to digitally transform and reboot the dispute resolution ecosystem. Jupitice has researched, developed and designed the digital Lok Adalat to bridge the existing justice gap addressing problems of digital divide by ensuring that justice reaches to the common people even in the remotest villages through web, mobile and CSCs, making affordable justice delivered as a service like other services.

Mr Raman Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Jupitice said, “At the core, we always believed that with technology, we can realize the global dream of access to justice i.e. an inclusive justice system that leaves no one behind. Today, our technology collaboration with RSLSA takes us a step closer to achieving our goal. We at Jupitice are working on creating a new justice experience that is hassle-free, participatory, empowering and easy and that is redefining how people go through the process of dispute resolution.”

Recently, RSLSA and Jupitice entered into a MoU where Jupitice as a technology partner provided a customized Digital Lok Adalat Platform to RSLSA to conduct a fully digital Lok Adalat by leveraging modern technologies to enable RSLSA to provide online services to all the stakeholders to ensure efficiency, convenience, transparency, etc.

The Digital Lok Adalat will be utilized to dispose of pending disputes or disputes that are at the pre-litigation stage by the Rajasthan State Legal Service Authority. It facilitates end-to-end dispute resolution processes such as easy drafting & filing of applications, one-click generation of e-notices, smart templates to draft settlement agreements, digital hearings powered by tailor-made video conferencing tools, etc.  Additionally, it offers an AI-powered voice-based interactive chatbot along with advanced data analytics tools to help gain deeper insights into the functioning of Lok Adalat through custom reports and BI Dashboards for data-driven decision making.

“The vision of speedy justice is deepened in the roots of our Indian Constitution. Therefore, we believe this initiative of digital lok adalat will definitely speed up justice delivery similar to Zomato and Swiggy’s food delivery system. We look forward to Jupitice’s collaboration in achieving this larger goal together and making a better society”, said Mr. Ravikant Soni, Hon’ble Joint Secretary, Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority.

The justice system across the world has been known to be cumbersome and trying. Throughout the justice journey, the disputants are stressed, the cost involved is high and the time taken is unparalleled compared to any other systems. An OECD’s report highlights that the cost of adverse consequences on people’s health, income and employment alone costs 0.5% to 3% of the GDP in most countries. For an holistic development of a country, along with access to justice, the overall justice experience that leaves them happy matters.