Parliament Question: Free legal aid services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.63 ANSWERED ON 29/01/2026 FREE LEGAL AID SERVICES 63 SHRI RAGHAV CHADHA:

Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state:

(a) whether free legal aid services are provided under the Legal Services Authorities Act and if so, the details thereof, State-wise and district-wise;

(b) the number of beneficiaries assisted during the last five years, year-wise and cases-wise;

(c) whether the quality, outreach and accountability of legal aid lawyers are independently monitored, including performance measures, grievance data and audit findings and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d) the current trends in pendency and case disposal rates for legal aid cases; and

(e) the budget allocated and spent on legal aid services, along with gaps in implementation and recent data? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) & (b):The Government has set up National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the poor and marginalised sections of the society to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunities.In order to reach out to the citizens in every corner of the country, the legal services authorities have been setup from the Taluk level up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) functions at the Supreme Court whereas, there are 38 High Court Legal Services Committees (HCLSCs), 37 State Legal Services Authorities

(SLSAs), 707 District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) and 2440 Taluk Legal Services Committees (TLSCs). The activities/programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities include Legal Aid and advice; Legal Awareness Programmes; Legal Services Clinics; Legal Literacy Clubs; Lok Adalats and implementation of Victim Compensation Scheme.

State/UT and year-wise details of number of persons benefitted through free legal services under Legal Services Authorities Act during the last five financial years are at Annexure - A. However, the district and case-wise data is not maintained by NALSA.

(c) The National Legal Services Authority (Free and Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010 provide for a robust framework for monitoring and evaluating legal aid services through the Monitoring and Mentoring Committees (MMCs) at all tiers i.e. Supreme Court of India, High Courts, State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs)/District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) and Taluk Legal Services Committees (TLSCs). These committees are responsible for overseeing court-based legal aid delivery, monitoring the progress of assigned cases, and guiding panel lawyers and Legal Aid Defense Counsels (LADCs) in providing quality legal services.

The MMCs maintain registers to track the day-to-day progress and final outcomes of legal aid cases. They obtain periodic reports from legal aid lawyers, assess their performance, and advise concerned authorities to take corrective steps when progress is unsatisfactory.

This continuous follow-up mechanism ensures accountability, transparency, and quality control in legal services. The MMCs also evaluate lawyer’s performance to identify underperformance or misconduct. Moreover, performance of each human resource engaged under LADCS is evaluated every six months by the SLSA under the guidance of Executive Chairman of the SLSA. Additionally, monthly reporting of casework by the LADCs is done by the SLSAs to NALSA, ensuring real-time oversight and data-driven evaluation at the national level.

2(d) The data related to pending legal aid cases is not maintained by NALSA. However, quality of disposal and their rates are regularly monitored through various level as detailed under para (c) above.

(e) The details of funds released and utilized by NALSA for implementation of various legal aid services and programmes under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, during the last five

financial years are as under:

Grant-in-Aid (in Rs.) Financial Year Funds Released Funds Utilised 2021-22 145,00,00,000 145,00,00,000 2022-23 190,00,00,000 190,00,00,000 2023-24 400,00,00,000 399,31,50,685 200,00,00,000 197,10,67,183 2024-25 147,92,50,000 114,66,93,380* (under LADCS Scheme) 200,00,00,000 144,65,24,026 2025-26 195,84,00,000 (upto 18.01.2026) 194,17,18,000 (under LADCS Scheme) * Due to some technical glitches under newly introduced TSA/TSA Hybrid module of PFMS, SLSAs and DLSAs could not utilise completefund during F.Y. 2024-25 under the Scheme of Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS).

***** 3Annexure - A Statement referred to in reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 63 for answer on

29.01.2026 regarding –Free legal aid services.

Statement showing the number of persons benefited through Legal Services provided under Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 during the financial years2021-22 to 2025-26 (upto November, 2025) 2025-26 Name of State/UT (upto S.No. 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Authority November,

2025) Andaman & Nicobar 1 79 134 220 341 278 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 6,371 9,473 8,265 11,266 9,069 3 Arunachal Pradesh 2,657 5,559 5,696 9,236 6,696 4 Assam 1,10,254 38,335 63,749 82,694 66,567 5 Bihar 16,89,158 2,09,809 1,51,413 84,505 51,333 6 Chandigarh 1,781 2,653 2,822 2,951 2,202 7 Chhattisgarh 42,394 44,106 62,164 80,874 55,547 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 27 28 55 45 61 8 Daman & Diu 17 24 34 119 92 9 Delhi 79,055 96,433 1,21,882 76,526 48,922 10 Goa 1,101 2,041 1,558 1,889 2,359 11 Gujarat 21,953 32,422 40,569 50,467 60,168 12 Haryana 23,260 43,098 76,863 82,194 85,858 13 Himachal Pradesh 4,806 5,998 7,346 6,222 4,442 14 Jammu & Kashmir 8,870 7,992 11,396 18,602 16,966 15 Jharkhand 6,49,481 1,45,217 2,69,303 3,28,365 2,95,398 16 Karnataka 32,794 45,663 53,406 51,245 41,089 17 Kerala 16,895 23,418 36,498 26,571 24,175 18 Ladakh 2,408 711 505 324 181 19 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 1 14 20 Madhya Pradesh 33,43,800 1,91,921 2,25,510 2,33,009 1,65,804 21 Maharashtra 22,595 36,663 53,756 59,454 40,935 22 Manipur 22,651 26,929 62,635 99,062 54,743 23 Meghalaya 2,346 2,769 2,371 2,754 3,378 24 Mizoram 3,201 5,038 4,801 3,713 2,427 25 Nagaland 7,750 7,390 4,603 5,012 7,418 26 Odisha 8,849 11,880 19,289 22,134 12,286 27 Puducherry 884 788 621 616 362 28 Punjab 36,404 56,448 60,361 65,513 55,037 429 Rajasthan 13,833 13,472 20,290 22,216 19,454 30 Sikkim 986 1,127 1,074 901 814 31 Tamil Nadu 38,181 49,570 45,180 52,528 37,759 32 Telangana 6,712 12,615 13,193 16,021 13,909 33 Tripura 2,671 5,055 9,964 10,303 7,943 34 Uttar Pradesh 1,32,629 24,890 29,079 22,732 20,861 35 Uttarakhand 3,775 5,386 21,339 34,208 35,333 36 West Bengal 29,015 49,714 62,354 92,914 72,350 Total 63,69,643 12,14,769 15,50,164 16,57,527 13,22,230 5