Tele Law Scheme:
- Background: The moves comes after the Department of Justice earlier implemented the pilot project in UP, Bihar and J&K, where over 50,000 litigants have availed the services.
- Objective of Tele-law: Under this legal aid services will be provided through Common Service Centres (CSC) at the Panchayat level, spread across the country.
- Working:
- Under the scheme, a portal called ‘Tele-Law’ will be launched, which will be available across the Common Service Centre (CSC) network.
- This will connect the citizens to legal service providers. People will be able to seek legal advice from lawyers through video conferencing available at the Centres CSC.
- The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) will provide a panel of lawyers from State capitals, who will be available through video conferencing to provide legal advice and counselling to the applicants.
- Role of a Para Legal Volunteer (PLV):
- Every CSC will also engage a PLV, who will be the first point of contact for the rural citizens.
- These PLVs will help the applicant connect with a lawyer through the video conferencing facility at the CSC, will help them in understanding the legal issues and explain the advice given by lawyers.
- Agencies involved: It Is a collaboration between the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which runs the Digital India programme.
Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) Mobile Application:
- There are a significant number of lawyers who would be interested to volunteer their time and money in providing their services as a pro bono, but may not be able to perform due to a lack of common platform to serve the unserved.
- Thus, to accelerate and facilitate the practicing advocates to register and connect with the registered eligible beneficiaries, Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Service) mobile application is developed to solidify the pro bono culture in the country.
