National Lok Adalat: DSLSA moves Delhi event to 25 October 2026

A National Lok Adalat is scheduled at the Delhi High Court and other courts and tribunals across Delhi on 25 October 2026, under a Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) notification dated 9 September 2026. The authority moved the settlement proceedings from 10 October after that date was declared a working day for courts subordinate to the High Court.

The notification, signed by DSLSA Member Secretary Rajeev Bansal, provides for the amicable settlement of civil cases and compoundable criminal cases, excluding divorce matters. Compoundable offences are those that the law permits to be settled through a compromise.

The document establishes the event’s revised date and participating institutions. It does not identify individual cases listed before the Delhi High Court, name the benches assigned to them or report any settlement outcomes.

Why the date changed and which forums are covered

DSLSA cited the Delhi High Court Registrar General’s notification No.86/G-4/Genl.-I/DHC, dated 8 September 2026, as the reason for the postponement. According to DSLSA’s account of that notification, the second Saturday, 10 October 2026, was declared a court sitting day for subordinate courts. DSLSA’s Patron-in-Chief consequently approved shifting the National Lok Adalat to Sunday, 25 October.

The revised schedule covers all Delhi district court complexes: Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Patiala House, Rohini, Saket, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue. DSLSA also specified the Delhi High Court, Debt Recovery Tribunals, Permanent Lok Adalats, the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions as participating forums.

The authority asked the courts, forums, tribunals and other stakeholders to inform litigants and parties of the change. Its notification was also sent to the Secretary of the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee and the district legal services authorities, among others responsible for organising the proceedings.

DSLSA’s notifications page separately lists the 9 September postponement notice alongside the earlier notification for the 10 October event. The change was therefore announced in September; 25 October is the rescheduled event date, not the date of a new judicial ruling.

Pending cases, pre-litigation disputes and traffic challans

The DSLSA notification sets out different arrangements for cases already before a court and disputes that have not yet entered litigation.

For pending cases, it said parties could apply for listing before the court, forum or tribunal where their matter was being heard. For pre-litigation disputes, meaning disputes not yet brought to court, applications were to be made to the Member Secretary’s office no later than seven days before the National Lok Adalat.

Traffic challans on the Virtual Court portal were subject to a separate eligibility cutoff. DSLSA said compoundable challans pending up to 30 June 2026 would be taken up.

The notification scheduled challan-slip downloads through the Delhi Traffic Police portal from 10 a.m. on 19 October 2026. It specified a maximum of 50,000 challans a day, until an overall limit of 2 lakh challans was exhausted.

Those figures describe the limits in the announced download arrangement. They are not a count of challans downloaded, cases heard or penalties settled on 25 October; the notification contains no such results.

Settlement depends on the parties’ agreement

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) describes a Lok Adalat as a statutory forum for resolving disputes through an agreed settlement, whether the case is pending in court or remains at the pre-litigation stage. The mechanism has statutory recognition under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

According to NALSA, members of an ordinary Lok Adalat act as conciliators: they help the parties reach an agreement rather than decide the dispute themselves. They must assist independently and impartially and must not pressure either party, directly or indirectly, into accepting a compromise.

That distinction matters to the Delhi event. Listing a case for settlement does not itself establish that the parties have agreed to resolve it. NALSA’s explanation makes agreement between the parties the basis for disposal through an ordinary Lok Adalat.

NALSA also states that offences which cannot legally be compounded fall outside this settlement process. That restriction is consistent with the DSLSA notification’s inclusion of compoundable criminal cases and its express exclusion of divorce cases.

For cases settled through a Lok Adalat, NALSA says the resulting award, or formal settlement decision, is treated as a civil court decree and binds the parties. It also states that no court fee is payable for filing a matter in a Lok Adalat. Where a pending court case is referred and subsequently settled, the court fee originally paid on the complaint or petition is refundable.

For High Court Lok Adalats, NALSA’s published framework assigns the constitution of benches to the Secretary of the High Court Legal Services Committee. It provides for a sitting or retired High Court judge, together with a legal professional, an eligible social worker, or both. The DSLSA scheduling notification does not specify who would serve on the Delhi High Court benches for 25 October.