National Legal Service Day

National Legal Services Day is observed every year on 9^th November to commemorate the commencement of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 which came into force on 9th November, 1995. On National Legal Services Day, legal awareness camps are held by State Legal Services Authorities across the country to apprise people about the availability of free legal aid. Further, nationwide programmes are organised every year to make people aware of the various services provided by Legal Services Authorities.

In the year 2021, six-week long Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign was launched from 2^nd October to 14^th November, 2021 which included Door-to-Door Campaigns, Legal Awareness Programs, awareness through Mobile Vans and awareness through Legal Aid Clinics. Further, ‘Legal Services Week’ was observed from 8^th November to 14^th November, 2021 wherein more than 38 crore persons were surveyed or interacted or made aware of their rights. On the Legal Services Day i.e., 9^th November, 2021, a national level event was also organised by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), wherein iOS version of the Legal Services Mobile Application was launched and online portal for filing Legal Aid applications was made accessible in 10 languages.

The following Authorities/Institutions are established to provide free legal aid to poor and weaker sections of the society :-

1. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) at National level
2. Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) at Supreme Court level
3. 39 High Court Legal Services Committees (HCLSCs) at High Court level
4. 37 State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) at State level
5. 673 District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) at District level
6. 2465 Taluk Legal Services Committees (TLSCs) at Taluk level

The Government extends all support to strengthen the legal services authorities/institutions in the form of Grant-in-Aid and other logistical support.

In order to monitor the performance of the legal services authorities, NALSA receives monthly activity reports from all the State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) highlighting all the activities carried out in a particular month. Apart from monthly activity reports, NALSA also receives Annual Reports from all the SLSAs and prepares its own Annual Report, which is laid before both Houses of the Parliament of India.

This information was given by  Kiren Rijiju Union Minister of Law and Justice, in Lok Sabha today.